Chapter 132 Zhang Shicheng may be the first
Chen Biao had discovered the problem long ago. Every time someone robbed his house, it was always Zhang Shicheng who sent people to do it.
If Zhang Shicheng had such scheming and ambition, he would not have gone from being the greatest hero of the peasant uprising army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty to being a coward staying at home in a corner .
How powerful was Zhang Shicheng's appeal in the past? He could summon all the wise men with a single wave of his hand. Now, even when Zhang Shicheng wanted his men to fight, he had to bargain for them. If he didn't give them enough benefits, no one would go to the battlefield.
To do bad things in someone else's home, and to trace many clues, the planning had been going on for years or even decades, and I don't know how much manpower and resources it cost.
Zhang Shicheng was just a salt merchant more than a decade ago. Where did he get his connections and financial resources?
But the clues do point to Zhang Shicheng. Pingjiang City where Zhang Shicheng is must be their base.
Pingjiang City is the base of this group of people, but Zhang Shicheng is not the mastermind. So there is only one answer, Zhang Shicheng is probably the first person to be corrupted by this group of people.
After hearing Chen Biao's words, Ji Renshou was stunned for a long time.
He was once recommended as an official, but soon resigned and retired because of the darkness of the world and officialdom, so he was not good at these conspiracies and intrigues.
We can get a glimpse of these conspiracies and intrigues in history books, but it is difficult to understand the full picture without experiencing it.
Ji Renshou sighed: "Neither Zhu Yunsheng nor I are good at this."
Chen Biao complained, "I don't think anyone under my lord's command is good at anything."
Ji Renshou laughed: "It seems to be true."
Even Liu Ji, who claimed to be the wisest and most resourceful man under the wise king, and who could only sigh "the young are to be feared" when looking at Chen Biao, did not dare to say that he was good at political struggle.
Politically, they were all unsuccessful people. Even if they passed the imperial examination and became Jinshi, they could not be promoted after becoming local officials.
Under the circumstances of the Yuan court, the Han officials who were able to thrive in the court were all the smartest of the smart. Just to say that in political struggles, their methods and scheming were much more superior to Liu Ji's.
Ji Renshou was a little worried: "Could Zhang Chang have done these things?"
Chen Biao said: "It may not be Zhang Chang, but he is definitely a Han official of the Yuan Dynasty."
The Mongolian nobles were busy fighting among themselves, and these political tactics were too traditional and typical, full of the flavor of historical books and old papers, and could only have been done by Han officials.
Ji Renshou became even more worried: "Zhang Chang is fine. But if more former Yuan Dynasty officials, or their children, come to serve in the court, I wonder what the Ming Dynasty officialdom will become."
Chen Biao was quite relaxed. "It's not like the Yuan Dynasty's officialdom was like this. To put it bluntly, officialdom struggles are all about profit. Even if the old Yuan Dynasty officials were not allowed to hold office, they would still fight for more benefits. Those who do practical work are not in the same boat and will definitely suffer. It all depends on whether the emperor can distinguish between loyalty and treachery and protect capable officials. It's pointless for us to overthink it."
Ji Renshou thought about the two future emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and his worries suddenly subsided. He laughed and said, "That's true. A capable minister who meets a wise ruler thrives like a fish in water. Matters like this depend on fate, so there's no point in being anxious. It seems Biao'er has already blamed Zhang Chang for the Chen family's affairs."
Chen Biao immediately said, "What do you mean by blaming Zhang Chang? With such a coincidental timing, how could it happen so quickly unless the person responsible was already in Yingtian? Plus, Zhang Chang and Chen Zuren were good friends... Oh, I really didn't scold him to death! I was wronged!"
Hearing Chen Biao's protest of injustice again, Ji Renshou almost laughed to death.
"Okay, okay, I didn't mean to scold him." Ji Renshou said, "I'm afraid he won't target you again after today."
No matter how many conspiracies and tricks Zhang Chang used, they were all easily defeated by Chen Biao. In order to avoid being exposed, he would probably have to lie low for a while.
Chen Biao shook his head. "He's targeting me, but now he's making many small moves against the lord. Mr. Ji, did you know that the lord recently intended to build luxurious imperial tombs for his ancestors in Xuyi and Haozhou? I later learned that besides the lord's desire to return home in glory, there was another reason."
"Someone told the lord that the place where his ancestors were buried was a dragon vein and a dragon cave! That's why he could become emperor! Therefore, two large mausoleums need to be built to guard and protect the dragon vein of the Ming Dynasty!
After Chen Biao finished speaking word by word, Ji Renshou was shocked.
…
In Yingtian, after Zhu Yuanzhang pacified the people in the north as the Ming King, he finally returned home along the Grand Canal.
Ma Xiuying had already returned. She was checking the homework of the girls' school while urging the dog and cat to get some education.
Although Gou'er was as playful as his brothers, he loved reading even more than them and could concentrate on his studies.
Not to mention Mao'er, he is one of the rare people besides Chen Biao who can't put down books.
Ma Xiuying was very satisfied with her two younger sons. When Zhu Yuanzhang came back, she praised the cats and dogs again and again.
After Zhu Yuanzhang examined his two sons' studies, having experienced the "clumsiness" of Chen Chong and Chen Tan, he no longer held Chen Gou'er and Chen Mao'er to the same standard as Chen Biao. He was grudgingly satisfied with his two sons and praised them in a very subtle way.
Chen Gou'er and Chen Mao'er did not show their happiness because Zhu Yuanzhang's praise was too subtle and the two children did not hear it. This made Zhu Yuanzhang, who rarely praised his sons other than Chen Biao, very depressed.
Ma Xiuying didn't know what to say.
"Biao'er is already in Xuyi. I heard it's raining there, and someone asked Biao'er to stand in the rain and pray to God for it to stop. Isn't this just deliberately making things difficult for him?" Although Ma Xiuying rarely brought up government affairs in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, she had to mention it when it came to Chen Biao's matter. "As a woman, I don't know about these sacrificial rituals. I just know that if Biao'er gets sick because of this, I'll punish him!"
Seeing Ma Xiuying's rare aggressiveness, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a tingling sensation in his heart and quickly said, "How is that possible? If they really dare to let Biaoer get wet in the rain, I will personally go over and chop them up!"
Ma Xiuying frowned and said, "Even if you went, wouldn't Biao'er have gotten wet in the rain? Didn't you do anything to prevent this in advance? For example, tell them that Biao'er's health comes first."
Zhu Yuanzhang patted his chest and said, "Why didn't I say that? I already told Zhu Wenzheng and Yan Qian about it, and the other generals also mentioned it!"
As for those civil servants, Zhu Yuanzhang only wanted to use their knowledge and never thought that they would think they could make decisions on their own. So when he heard this, Zhu Yuanzhang wondered for a long time who gave them the courage.
"Xiuying, you have to believe in Biaoer. Biaoer is not the kind of soft persimmon that can be bullied by anyone. My son is very powerful!" Zhu Yuanzhang said proudly.
Ma Xiuying snorted coldly, "No matter how powerful Biao'er is, he still needs our protection . How old is he? You've arranged so many things for him and attracted so much hatred. He doesn't even have the protection of the crown prince, so he will encounter more troubles in the future."
At this point, Ma Xiuying's pretended anger turned into real resentment, and she twisted Zhu Yuanzhang's arm hard.
Zhu Yuanzhang cried out in pain and kept comforting Ma Xiuying until she calmed down.
That group of people actually extended their evil hands to Ma Xiuying's sons. No wonder Ma Xiuying was angry.
Of course Zhu Yuanzhang was also angry, but he just didn't want to show it when Ma Xiuying was angry.
After returning to the Ming Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and scolded Liao Yongan for not managing Yingtian well.
Liao Yongan apologized repeatedly. Even though he had no control over the Chen family's affairs, he did not dare to feel wronged at all.
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished scolding people, he cleaned up Yingtian again.
Even Zhu Wenzhen learned to subdivide his responsibilities under Chen Biao's guidance, but Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care when he got angry.
He killed everyone who had anything to do with this matter. The wealthy families in Yingtian were suddenly in danger, but no one fled Yingtian.
Yingtian is a safe place in this chaotic world. If they leave here, their situation will be even more dangerous.
Zhu Yuanzhang killed a group of people and barely suppressed his anger with blood, and then he continued to care about Chen Biao's sacrifice.
He felt a little relieved when he learned that Chen Biao had left Xuyi and was taking his grandfather's coffin to Haozhou.
"I was wondering why Biaoer was captured by this group of people." Zhu Yuanzhang said to the messenger.
The messenger said, "The Crown Prince said he wanted to burn yellow paper in the rain to verify whether the heavens approved of this sacrifice. He had already built the altar before the group discussed it, and they thought he was just talking. They didn't expect him to actually walk out of the tent and light the yellow paper in the rain."
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately became nervous: "Walked into the rain?! He got wet!"
The messenger replied, "They had umbrellas. But General Zhu Wenzheng still got really angry."
Zhu Yuanzhang angrily said, "He dares to lose his temper with Biao'er?!"
The messenger replied, "No, he got angry at a tree and chopped it down with his sword, and it became blunt."
Zhu Yuanzhang: “…Oh.”
I'm afraid my nephew is a little bit stupid.
Zhu Yuanzhang was not surprised that paper could catch fire in the rain.
Of course, those yellow papers were not made by him personally. In his letter to King Ming, Chen Biao specifically asked King Ming to prepare "flammable yellow paper" in the name of personal production to deal with possible windy and rainy weather.
Chen Biao said that even if there was wind and rain, if the yellow paper could not be lit, there might still be people who would use it to spread rumors about the legitimacy of the lord's ascension to the throne, so special yellow paper had to be prepared.
These yellow papers are soaked in pine resin and can burn even when placed on water. When they burn, they also have a pleasant aroma.
Zhu Yuanzhang could imagine how wonderful the faces of those scholars who were shouting about God would be when Chen Biao lit the resin yellow paper in the rain, and the yellow paper burned more vigorously than ordinary yellow paper and emitted bursts of faint fragrance.
As expected of my son, he anticipated everything in advance.
Zhu Yuanzhang touched his beard and felt very proud.
