Volume 2 Chapter 28: Outing (Part 2)
Zhang Jun nodded slowly upon hearing this, but then shook his head slowly: "Yan Xiu, if that's all, then of course I'm greedy, but now among the close ministers, I'm the only one who's idle..."
Liu Ziyu was slightly stunned.
"Let's continue." Zhang Jun continued to pour himself a drink, finished the glass , and then shook his hands and said, "Mr. Xiaolin is very cunning and has a solid foundation. He usually doesn't say a word, but he can often do great things..."
Liu Ziyu immediately nodded and interrupted: "Of course I know about this. For example, after the Xiangyang incident, none of the meritorious officials were promoted in official positions, but the idle people in the Privy Council said that everyone was rewarded generously... For the commanders of the imperial camp, no reward is better than expanding the army. For an official like Lin Xueshi who is close to the emperor, no reward is better than the emperor's trust... I heard that there are four or five people in the Hanlin Academy now, and the rest of them combined cannot guard as many people as Lin Xueshi?"
"That's right." Zhang Deyuan replied in a muffled voice. "The recent scholars, such as Wang Wan (from the Kangwang Palace) with his rich experience, Shen Yiqiu with his beautiful writing style, and Li Ruopu (Li Ruoshui's younger brother) with his loyal family, could not shake Master Lin in the slightest."
Liu Ziyu seemed to be thinking about something, and then he said, "In fact, it is normal for the emperor to miss the past. Scholar Lin has not only made outstanding contributions recently, but he was also a close minister on Bagong Mountain before... Deyuan, it is true that the emperor has forgotten the past after falling into the well, but none of the ministers who suffered after falling into the well have forgotten it."
"That's right." Zhang Deyuan pretended not to understand the meaning of the other party's words, but continued to hold his hands and said with a smell of alcohol: "The emperor is indeed nostalgic, and has always treated the close ministers who shared hardships with him in the past well... Just think about it, if Wang Boyan and Wang Yuan had not chosen to share hardships with him on Bagong Mountain, how could they be so successful today? If Yang Yizhong had not been with him since he ascended the throne, how could he be so trusted by the emperor? If Liu Yan had not served in the Mingdao Palace, how could he have risen to prominence? If Yuwen Xuzhong had not been with Han Shizhong as an important minister when he rebelled, how could he have been one of the four prime ministers? Even if Hu Mingzhong had not taken off his clothes to show his sincerity that day, how could he have been able to accept all the advice? Even the fact that Prime Minister Li and the emperor have a tacit understanding is also the gratitude of holding hands and entrusting him that day, isn't it?"
Liu Ziyu sighed, "If that's the case, what else do you have to say? Does the emperor only trust these people and not you, Zhang Deyuan? Didn't he give you a high position, or didn't he use the people you recommended? Wasn't I recommended by you? Before I came here today, weren't there many talented people blocking your door? Didn't they just want to make friends with you so that they could ask you to take care of me tomorrow?"
"I know what Yan Xiu meant." Zhang Deyuan's voice became even more dull. "I don't have any complaints. As you and others said, I was the Chief Censor at the age of 31, which is half the position of a prime minister. Moreover, the emperor was able to employ almost all the talents I recommended. What else can I say? But you don't know that the emperor's intentions are obvious now. It is true that I am trapped in this position and cannot move..."
"What does Deyuan mean?" Liu Ziyu finally lost his patience. "You keep saying you have no complaints, but from what I hear, I feel like you are just complaining the whole time, and you have no idea how you got trapped..."
"It's actually quite simple." Zhang Deyuan had no choice but to lower his voice and speak the truth after drinking. "I was trapped here by the government. Now everyone understands that because of the chaotic situation, the government wants to stabilize the court and calm people's hearts..."
“Everyone knows about this.”
"Then let me ask you, what does the Chief Censor do?" Zhang Jun asked himself and answered himself. "Originally, he is responsible for keeping the ministers and the important officials in the court in check. In this situation, I look ahead and see that the ministers and the heads of the various ministries and temples are all in a safe position unless there are obvious mistakes. Doesn't this mean that the general function of the Censorate has been lost?"
Liu Ziyu frowned slightly, obviously not having thought about this.
"Besides that, Yan Xiu doesn't know that Lord Xu and Lord Wang are close friends with Lord Zhang Que who is recuperating in Huainan, but Lord Zhang and I have always been at odds. In the past few days, Lord Zhang's health has been getting worse, so they are pressing me hard." Zhang Jun continued to sigh. "Therefore, if the emperor has something that needs to be reported by the censors, these two Lords always go directly to Hu Mingzhong, bypassing me, while the other two Lords just pretend not to know. Anyway, Hu Mingzhong is also a close minister to the emperor, and he is just as useful to the emperor..."
"You mean you were held back by Hu Mingzhong?" Liu Ziyu was slightly moved. "In that case, why don't you suppress him openly? You are the chancellor, he is your subordinate, and he is your junior in terms of friendship, so it's legitimate..."
"This is another helpless part." Zhang Jun pointed his finger at the sky with a drunken breath. "The emperor is watching... Hu Mingzhong and I are both close ministers, and we are both trusted by the emperor. Hu Mingzhong has impeached Han Shizhong and me before. If I do this this time, what will it mean in the eyes of the emperor who has been so kind to me? I can't have grudges, but is it okay to take revenge for personal gain? Even if I recommend Hu Mingzhong to a good position, and push him out, do you think our emperor, with his shrewdness, doesn't understand?"
Liu Ziyu thought about it and felt helpless, because the three parties involved in this matter formed a loop, and if two buttons were untied, everything would end up in the hands of the government.
"You two gentlemen are very clever. You must have figured out the emperor's intentions and specially selected Hu Mingzhong, a brilliant candidate." Liu Ziyu was silent for a long time before he sighed. "But why not be patient? Others would love to be put in the position of Chief Censor."
"Has Yanxiu forgotten my ambition ?" Zhang Deyuan drank another cup and waved his hands again. "I am from Sichuan. That day when the official told us to become Marquis of Wu by the Ying River, I decided to be Marquis of Wu in this life! The country is in ruins, and others are working for the country. How can I stay here idly?"
When Liu Ziyu heard this, his slight annoyance suddenly disappeared, and he became respectful instead: "So, what does Deyuan want to do?"
"I want to resign from my post and go out to govern a region like Zhao Yuanzhen (Zhao Ding) did," Zhang Jun answered simply.
Liu Ziyu was not surprised at all, he just smiled bitterly: "You advised me to raise my standards and let me stay in the center, but you want to run away..."
"I advised you to stay here because you are useful here. Didn't the incident in Xiangyang prove my words?" Zhang Jun disagreed. "And I am asking to leave now because I am useless staying in the center."
"The truth is always yours." Liu Ziyu's smile became even more bitter. "Then where are you going?"
"I estimate that in a month or two, someone in Guanzhong will come out to clean up the situation... There are seven or eight commanders, so there must be one or two who are either arrogant or loyal, right?"
"Of course...you want to go to Shaanxi?" Liu Ziyu frowned slightly.
"I want to go to Sichuan and Shaanxi," Zhang Deyuan corrected. "The emperor hates civil officials taking charge of military affairs. If I ask Shaanxi now, the emperor will definitely not allow it... But I am originally from Shu, and I want to go to Shu to appease the people, just like Zhao Ding stayed in Huainan to support Zhang Boying (Zhang Jun) and stayed in Sichuan to support Guanzhong. The emperor has nothing to say."
"Then wait for a powerful figure to emerge in Guanzhong and become your Zhang Boying?" Liu Yanxiu seemed to be thinking. "It makes sense, but there are still a few difficulties... The emperor asked you to take care of Han Shizhong. After you leave, who will respond to Han Shizhong?"
Zhang Jun smiled bitterly: "This is another reason why I asked to go. Han Shizhong is the general closest to Nanyang. Your Majesty is always worried about him. You can just take care of him yourself. Why do you need me to take care of him? This is a different time, that is a different time."
"That's right." Liu Ziyu nodded gently. " Who are you going to recommend as the Chief Censor after you leave? Hu Mingzhong? It can't be Li Guang, right? He was once an aide to Prime Minister Li. We should be careful about this kind of thing."
"I'm not stupid enough to let Li Guang do it, but I can't accept the fact that you asked me to recommend Hu Mingzhong." Zhang Jun shook his head. "He Zhu, the Censor-in-Chief, Fan Zongyin, the Minister of Rites, Zhu Shengfei, the Minister of Works, Ye Mengde, the Imperial Academy Scholar, Li Ruopu... these are all the choices at the moment. If the emperor asks me, I will just recommend them and let the emperor choose."
Liu Ziyu wanted to say something. Since he knew that the emperor was nostalgic, how could these people be compared with Hu Mingzhong who took off his clothes in front of the curtain that day? However, since it was related to the position of the Chief Censor, as a close minister in front of the emperor, he did not want to say more.
"If Ruode goes to Sichuan and I can't go with him, have you ever thought about finding a suitable military adviser to be in charge of the written matters in your staff?" Thinking of this, Liu Yanxiu simply changed the subject.
"I have already considered this matter." Zhang Jun raised his cup and drank again. "Zhe Yanzhi was demoted to Changhua Army (Hainan), I want to ask the government to pardon him, and then ask to join the army in Sichuan; even the equally important finance, I have also taken a fancy to a person, this time in Sichuan, I must make some achievements..."
Liu Ziyu knew that the other party was determined to leave, so he didn't want to say much and just raised his glass to drink as a friend.
In this way, the two of them took a rare break and drank from morning until the sun was setting. They went back drunk together and rested directly in Zhang Jun's house... However, before they had slept for a moment and were still drunk, a eunuch suddenly came and delivered an imperial decree, saying that the emperor had an appointment and asked the two of them to leave the city in plain clothes as soon as possible.
The two men stood up in a daze, one feeling dizzy and the other feeling confused. The eunuch had no choice but to ask Zhang Jun's family to find a mule cart to take them out of the city, but they ended up in Baihe.
By this time, there was still enough sunlight, but no less than a hundred people had gathered on the bank of the Baihe River, not to mention the eunuchs, guards, imperial doctors, and painters, there were also several ministers, several chancellors, several Hanlin scholars, several secretaries of the imperial court, and of course several of the emperor's most trusted close ministers. Almost everyone was there.
Emperor Zhao was wearing only a loose-fitting, cross-collared linen robe, and was standing under a tree by the river with Madam Wu, who was also dressed casually. When he turned around and saw two drunken henchmen climbing down from the mule cart, he couldn't help but laugh:
"Deyuan, Yanxiu, you two are really too much. You know that the weather is beautiful today and the riverside is beautiful, but you just drink and have fun by yourselves. Unlike me, I am thinking about you when I come out for a rare trip!"
Zhang Jun and Liu Ziyu looked at each other and bowed awkwardly. Liu Ziyu was fine, but Zhang Jun had the demeanor of a scholar and had drunk a lot, so he staggered and almost fell to the ground.
"There is no etiquette today." Zhao Jiu raised his hand to signal the eunuch to help the two drunkards up, and then laughed again. "It's like this, I have admired the poems of the great scholar Su since I was a child, so today I specially held a banquet to entertain the descendants of the great scholar Su. However, I am not well-educated, and I am afraid of making a fool of myself, so I asked you guys to give me courage..."
Liu Ziyu was fine, but Zhang Jun instinctively realized that the emperor was going to make trouble again... Because there would be a large-scale palace examination to appoint officials tomorrow, which was a top-notch event. It was the so-called critical moment, so why would he summon important officials here today to entertain Su Shi's grandson?
However, Zhang Zhongcheng was drunk and had a splitting headache just thinking about it, but he could only respond in a daze.
