Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 251 The Strange Princess? A Breeze Rises in Jiangnan!
According to the investigation by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Liu Wan'er was the daughter of an old palace maid.

It wasn't that there were any secret affairs within the palace, but rather that in previous years, the emperor had given special favors, allowing a group of older palace maids to leave the palace and marry on their own.

After the old palace maid passed away, she didn't have much savings left, so Liu Wan'er had to go out and make a living on her own.

This whole affair seemed flawless, but Zhang Yunxiu realized at this moment that it was all arranged by Princess Yongning in the palace.

She went to great lengths to send Liu Wan'er to the clinic to study medicine.

Strangely enough, despite all this trouble, Princess Yongning seemed completely unconcerned about being discovered. She even went so far as to try and exchange a sachet for medical knowledge.

As Zhang Yunxiu's thoughts wandered, his gaze fell on Liu Wan'er. Seeing her pitiful appearance, completely devoid of guile and acting skills, he couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.

This palace maid was lucky to have met Princess Yongning and herself; otherwise, she would have been bullied to death.
"That's all."

Zhang Yunxiu nodded slowly, picked up the notes on episiotomy surgery from the table, and placed them in Liu Wan'er's hands.

He smiled and said.

"Your notes are quite good. Your understanding of medicine is already quite advanced. You must have put in a lot of effort over the years, right?"

"Princess, she..." Liu Wan'er blurted out subconsciously, then quickly corrected herself. "Thank you for your praise, sir. I am simply quite fascinated by this subject, which is why I wanted to ask you for your guidance."

"nothing."

Zhang Yunxiu revealed a gentle smile; he was all too adept at feigning ignorance.

"It is good to be diligent in learning and asking questions. If you can achieve something in your studies, I will be very pleased."

He pointed to the notebook and continued.

"There are some discrepancies in the key points of this episiotomy procedure, which I have corrected. If you still have any questions, you can ask Mr. Dongbi or come to me."

Liu Wan'er hadn't expected the other party's change to be so sudden.

Could it be that Her Highness is truly a prophet? Did the other party immediately understand the meaning upon seeing the sachet?
But Liu Wan'er was still a little worried, and cautiously raised her eyes to speak.

"Mr. Xian, won't you tell anyone about this?"

"Tell others?" Zhang Yunxiu said, somewhat surprised. "Why would I tell others? Isn't this your dowry?"

He pretended to be nonchalant and put his hands in his pockets.

"Liu Wan'er, why aren't you paying your respects to the master?"

"Huh?" Liu Wan'er was startled, but still instinctively bowed respectfully. "Disciple Liu Wan'er greets Master."

"Not bad, not bad." Zhang Yunxiu nodded repeatedly, then said with a smile, "If you have any questions in the future, you can come and ask your teacher. There's no need to be so reserved."

He thought for a moment and continued.

"As for the 'Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold for Obstetrics,' it is not yet perfect. I will give you a part of it. Take it back and study it carefully. Do not be negligent and make any mistakes!"

Liu Wan'er was taken aback. She felt that this Magistrate Zhang, like the princess, spoke in a somewhat mysterious way, as if he had a deeper meaning.

However, at this moment, she could feel the other person's friendliness, so she nodded seriously and said.

"Please rest assured, Master, your disciple will certainly keep this in mind."

As she spoke, she took the abridged version of the manuscript of "Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold for Obstetrics and Gynecology".

Zhang Yunxiu nodded slightly, rubbed his temples, and said, "I am tired. You may leave now."

"Yes."

Liu Wan'er looked relieved and fled the study as if she were flying.

Once the study was quiet again, Zhang Yunxiu's eyes became slightly deep as he turned to look at the sachet.

In fact, it's not just based on the medicinal herbs inside that one can guess that the person who sent it was a member of the imperial family, but also by looking at the shape and material of the sachet.

Princess Yongning seems to be a very clever and shrewd person.

The fact that she secretly sent a palace maid out to learn medicine was not only due to her own reasons, but also probably involved factors related to the power struggles within the harem.
Given Consort Zheng's historically demonstrated skill and cunning, would she really have stood idly by regarding Consort Wang's matter? In history, the "succession crisis" between Emperor Wanli and his ministers was largely a result of Consort Zheng's instigation.

While palace intrigues in the Ming Dynasty weren't as severe, they weren't entirely absent either.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Ming, there was the case of Consort Wan monopolizing power. In order to maintain her own position, whenever she learned that a palace maid or concubine was pregnant, she would send her trusted eunuchs to poison her.

This matter is also recorded in the History of Ming: "When the emperor favored a woman in the inner palace, she was pregnant and drank medicine, which caused her to miscarry countless times."

Even Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, Zhu Youcheng, was able to survive thanks to the protection of the eunuch Zhang Min and Empress Dowager Zhou.

Historically, Consort Wang successfully gave birth to a prince.

However, Zhang Yunxiu still had some concerns, after all, he had brought many unforeseen changes to the Ming Dynasty, which would undoubtedly alter the timeline.

Could Consort Zheng act impulsively and harm the imperial heir?
At this point, Princess Yongning's appearance conveniently solved the problem.

Both morally and logically, Princess Yongning, Zhu Yaoying, had no motive to persecute the imperial heir. In fact, news came from the palace that she had moved into Jingyang Palace to take care of Consort Wang Gong.

Upon learning of Liu Wan'er's identity, Zhang Yunxiu naturally offered her assistance.

Speaking of which, Zhang Yunxiu hadn't been home for a long time. Hearing that his mother, Madam Gu, had returned from her hometown in Huguang, he was thinking of going back to pay her a visit.

Although he had no feelings for his birth mother as a time traveler, they were still mother and son after all.

No matter what, surely her own birth mother wouldn't be more stubborn and feudal than Zhang Juzheng?
Not used to riding in a sedan chair, Zhang Yunxiu planned to continue traveling on horseback until the invention of the steam car.

On the way back to the Zhang family mansion, they were greeted by the steward You Qi. As usual, he was in a hurry and rushed over as soon as he saw Zhang Yunxiu, and hurriedly lowered his voice to say something.

"Young master, you're finally back! Master has been searching everywhere for you!"

Zhang Yunxiu said somewhat speechlessly, "Just have someone pass on the message. I'm not like Uncle Zhang, who comes here all day asking all sorts of questions."

You Qi's face stiffened, but he was already used to Zhang Yunxiu's outrageous behavior.

"Ah—" You Qi sighed. "It is indeed a very urgent matter."

He leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"Something's happened in Jiangnan!"

"Something happened in Jiangnan?"

Inside the study, Zhang Yunxiu looked at his father, who was sitting upright at the desk, and asked him a question.

However, this was clearly not too unexpected for him.

"Hmm." Zhang Juzheng nodded with a somewhat solemn expression. "The gentry of Jiangnan will not sit idly by and wait for their doom."

He pushed a memorial on the table toward Zhang Yunxiu and slowly began to speak.

“Three days ago, a group of villagers, coerced by local students, stormed the Yingtian Governor’s Office, saying that the ‘loan’ method was the court competing with the people for profit, and that if this continued, it would surely lead to disaster.”

Five days ago, a garrison in Jiangnan reported that a group of Japanese pirates were stirring up trouble at sea and were likely to invade our coastal areas soon.

"In the past seven days, the prices of goods in Jiangnan have skyrocketed several times over. Whether it's cotton, silk, or grain, everything is available but there's no market for it."

Zhang Yunxiu was stunned for a moment, then shook his head repeatedly.

"Is this what Grand Secretary Xu's three-pronged approach is?"

Zhang Juzheng said helplessly, "You seem quite disappointed?"

Zhang Yunxiu chuckled: "This is all within the expected range. Didn't Father have this in mind?"

“We must not underestimate him.” Zhang Juzheng sat upright at his desk, still with a stern expression. “Xu Zisheng has been deeply involved in officialdom for many years, not to mention his influence in Jiangnan. We must be careful in our actions.”

He squinted at Zhang Yunxiu and said, "Is your futures market really useful?"

Zhang Yunxiu said confidently, "Father, please rest assured. You have seen the situation in the teahouses of the capital. I have already started using muskets, but those Jiangnan gentry are still thinking of using wooden sticks and old methods to deal with it. How can they possibly succeed?"

(End of this chapter)