Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 219: Experts have high salaries?
The emperor sent a master to teach Zhu Er martial arts, and he comes once every three days every month and charges a tuition fee of five strings of coins... is he Ah Liu?
Although he felt very sorry for Zhu Er, Zhang Shou couldn't help but want to laugh. However, considering that Madam Tai and Jiu Niang were there, he decided to save some face for Zhu Er. He looked at Ah Liu with a stern face and asked, "Ah Liu, when did this happen? How come I didn't know about it? Didn't you come back with me?"
"Eunuch Chu told me so, so I agreed." Ah Liu's answer was as simple and clear as ever.
Seeing that Zhu Er was about to cry, Zhang Shou could not help but continue to ask, "Eunuch Chu told you clearly that it was the Emperor who asked you to be Master Zhu Er's teacher and teach him martial arts?"
"Yes, once every three days, five strings of cash each time."
Zhu Er was immediately horrified and shouted, "It's once every three days, five strings of cash a month!" If it was really five strings of cash a time, he would be dead! Even if he had taken advantage of his father and elder brother's absence and finally embezzled some private money, it would not be enough for this! And he was paying to be beaten, which was even more unfortunate than Zhang Chen spending money to learn eight-part essays that he would never use!
"Really?" Ah Liu stared at Zhu Er with some doubt. His innocent eyes made Zhu Er feel uneasy. Then, he turned back to look at Zhang Shou as if nothing had happened and said calmly, "I remembered it wrong."
Damn it, I remembered it wrong... You did it on purpose, on purpose! Zhu Er shouted in his heart, but he found that everyone was looking at him and Ah Liu with a smile, and no one spoke for him. He felt that he was really stupid to ask the emperor to learn martial arts today. Just as he was wailing in secret, Zhu Ying spoke.
"Second brother, when you were little, didn't you always hope that Uncle Hua would teach you? Uncle Hua was only willing to teach my eldest brother, and neither you nor I would. Now that Ah Liu is here to teach you, your wish has finally come true. His disciple might be even better than Uncle Hua!"
Ah Liu was about to say that he was not as good as a madman, but he saw Zhu Ying winking at him, so he shut up immediately. As expected, he saw Zhu Er couldn't hold it back this time, holding his head and groaning: "You also said that it was a matter of childhood. Ever since I saw how much suffering my elder brother suffered under Uncle Hua's hands, I have given up the idea a long time ago!"
“Only those who endure the most hardships can become the best.”
Seeing Zhu Ying smilingly giving Zhu Er a critical hit, Zhang Shou had to step out to be a peacemaker, "I will ask Ah Liu to be more restrained and teach you step by step, and then gradually adjust according to your progress. I heard from Yingying that in the autumn hunt before, your ranking was often at the bottom? Just imagine, if you practice with Ah Liu for two years, you will be praised in front of others in the future!"
Under Zhang Shou's persuasion, Zhu Er had to accept this reality with resentment. However, when he stood up aggrievedly, intending to please his future temporary master but struggling with the name, the old lady who had just been watching the fun with a smile suddenly said: "Erlang, you are about the same age as Ah Liu, so there is no need to call him master so formally."
However, before Zhu Er could be happy, the lady smiled and said, "When Ah Liu comes to teach you in the future, you can call him Brother Liu. It is both friendly and respectful, and it will not disappoint the emperor's efforts."
Zhu Ying finally couldn't hold it in any longer, and she just leaned on the lady and laughed her heart out, her hands still pounding the soft couch. Although Zhang Shou was laughing, he was even more impressed by the emperor 's ingenious arrangement, so when he saw Zhu Er calling him "Sixth Brother" with a sad face, he finally couldn't help laughing: "Ah Liu, people are calling you Sixth Brother, and you don't show any reaction?"
Ah Liu looked at Zhu Er carefully, then reached out and took something out of his pocket, stuffed it directly into Zhu Er's hand, and said only three plain words: "Gift for meeting you."
Zhu Er was slightly stunned, and when he lowered his head, he saw that he was holding a sharp dagger without a sheath. The wooden handle showed signs of hand-polishing, and the blade shone with a cold light. Even though he was used to seeing all kinds of good things in the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, he still couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and most of the sorrow in his heart disappeared completely.
He thanked them again and again, and when he saw Zhang Shou say goodbye and go home, Ah Liu nodded and said goodbye. He watched him go to the door, and was wondering whether to see him off, but he saw Zhu Ying suddenly walked past him quickly and chased after him. Seeing this scene, no matter how stupid he was, he knew that following him out now would not be polite and respectful, but a typical spoiler.
When he came back from the door, he saw Taifu and Jiuniang looking at him with a half-smile. He was suddenly inspired and quickly presented the gift he had just received with both hands: "Grandmother, mother, can you help me take a look?"
The Madam had seen all kinds of magic weapons, and she was not interested in weapons alone, but was very interested in Ah Liu. The same was true for Jiu Niang, who was even more curious about why Ah Liu was personally chosen by the Emperor to teach Zhu Er - if Hua Qi hadn't had such a strange temper, that guy would have been more suitable in her opinion.
After she took the dagger and brought it to the Madam, she looked at it for a few more times and said thoughtfully, "It doesn't look like it was made by the Military Equipment Bureau. Instead, it looks like it was custom-made by a blacksmith shop or somewhere else, and then polished and sharpened. It's light and thin, and shorter than ordinary daggers. I'm not saying anything bad about you behind your back, but it might be more suitable for an assassin."
When the lady saw Zhu Er shudder, she laughed and said, "Your mother was joking with you. Ah Liu is a good boy, but he has a strange temper. He has only been learning from your mother for a few days, but he has already mastered her swordsmanship to a great extent. He is simply a genius. Although your mother asked Ah Shou to learn from Ah Liu, I guess Ah Shou doesn't have the skills. You might as well learn more."
Zhu Er had originally thought of the incident in which Zhu Ying proudly said that Jiu Niang was going to teach Zhang Shou swordsmanship, but ended up letting Ah Liu teach instead. Now, when he heard that Ah Liu had learned all the family swordsmanship of Duke Zhao in no time, he could not help but open his mouth in amazement, and finally once again accepted the reality of his mediocre talent in despair.
After Zhang Shou and Ah Liu walked out of the door, Zhu Ying caught up with them after only a few steps. She smiled and said, "Ah Liu, there is no one around now. Tell me, why did you agree to be my second brother's master? I don't believe that the emperor just asked Eunuch Chu to pass on a message to you, and you agreed so easily."
Ah Liu saw Zhang Shou also looking at him with a smile. He thought for a moment and then raised the corner of his mouth: "Sixty strings of cash a year."
Zhang Shou couldn't help but smile when he heard this answer. He thought it was reasonable, but Zhu Ying thought it was completely unexpected: "No way? You agreed just for 60 strings of cash a year? With your ability, any family would be willing to pay you 100 or 80 strings of cash a month!"
Zhang Shou had to cough, and then said seriously: "Yingying, don't forget, I have no money."
Zhu Ying suddenly felt that she had said something wrong, and immediately made amends, "What I mean is, besides money, is there any other reason?"
Ah Liu frowned again and thought for a while, then said uncertainly: "Because he is...your brother?"
Zhu Ying was finally satisfied with this answer. She smiled and gave Ah Liu a thumbs up, and said sincerely : "Then I will leave the second brother to you. I don't expect him to be as good as you, or as good as my eldest brother, but at least he can be like me and have a little self-protection ability, that's enough. By the way, don't just care about my second brother, teach Ah Shou the swordsmanship well!"
After they left the back door of the Duke Zhao's mansion, Zhang Shou persuaded Zhu Ying to go back, and then he and Ah Liu went home. Although he didn't believe everything Ah Liu said at Zhu's house, he didn't plan to ask any more questions. After entering the front door of his house, he said, "Ah Liu, find some time to send someone back to Rongshui Village, and ask Old Yang and the others to discuss and select two people to come over. Two people must stay with my mother."
"Yes." Ah Liu agreed very readily. But when he followed Zhang Shou to see Wu, he saw Zhang Shou went into the east room again, writing and drawing at the desk with a focused and serious expression. He couldn't help but explain, "I'm on loan."
Zhang Shou was thoughtfully deducing the structure of the cylinder and piston of a steam engine, and then he was thinking that natural rubber seemed to be still in South America these days. He didn't know whether Emperor Taizu took the fleet to America for the many edible crops including corn, peanuts, peppers, potatoes and sweet potatoes, or for economic crops such as cocoa beans and natural rubber.
Therefore, when he heard what Ah Liu said, he hummed absentmindedly at first. After a long while, he finally came to his senses and looked up at Ah Liu in astonishment: "Seconded? What does that mean?"
"I am from the Zhang family. The emperor wants to second me to teach the second son Zhu. So, in addition to the tuition paid by the second son Zhu, the emperor must also pay my wages." Ah Liu explained very carefully this time, and a rare smile appeared on his face. "Eunuch Chu said that my wages will be calculated according to the salary of a madman, 100 strings of cash per month."
I... Zhang Shou resisted the urge to swear, took a deep breath, and then thought of his pitiful salary... no, salary. Although Taizu advocated high salaries to maintain integrity, he still thought that the salaries of officials in the Song Dynasty were too outrageous, so the salary of this dynasty was much better than the salary of only ten dan of rice for the sixth-rank official in the Ming Dynasty. He received five dan of rice and ten strings of money a month.
But compared to the 100 guan that Ah Liu has now, it is simply shabby! Hua Qi didn't know what he was doing for the emperor, so it was reasonable for him to have a high salary. However, the emperor gave Ah Liu a salary that was equivalent to 20 times Zhu Er's tuition, which he thought was very abnormal.
He wanted to say that those who show kindness without any reason are either treacherous or thieves, but he felt that it was not appropriate; he wanted to say that no reward should be given without merit, but he felt that Ah Liu had actually made contributions more than once, so this was not appropriate either; in the end, he could only change to a more direct statement: "Isn't this too much?"
"It's not much." Ah Liu looked at Zhang Shou in confusion, "If you bring it back, my wife and the young master will be able to live a more comfortable life."
Zhang Shou had never thought that Ah Liu would actually use the money to subsidize the family. He felt ashamed and could only teach him earnestly, "This is your money. You should save every penny of it so that you can get married in the future..."
"It's not my money." Ah Liu interrupted Zhang Shou and emphasized, "It's compensation for you."
Seeing Zhang Shou's astonishment, he said with rare patience: "Eunuch Chu told me that the emperor said that the young master's previous achievements were rewarded very little, and you have supervised those troublemakers in the Imperial College, which is also a merit. This is compensation." He paused and then said seriously: "The emperor said that you have to save money to marry a wife!"
Zhang Shou was speechless after he had just said what Ah Liu said, but Ah Liu said it back to him. He could understand what the emperor had said to him through Chu Kuan and Ah Liu. He simply felt that since his family was poor, it would be difficult for him to marry Zhu Ying, the daughter of the Duke of Zhao, and he also felt that the previous reward was not enough, so he used this method to compensate him.
Of course, the emperor also saw through Liu's eccentric but honest personality and knew he would never have any other thoughts because of money.
Therefore, he could only shake his head helplessly and said, "Okay, okay, I get it. I have to marry a wife, and you have to marry a wife too. Consider this money as my saving for you."
"Yeah." Ah Liu looked relieved, but when he glanced at the words like chili on the paper on Zhang Shou's desk, he suddenly remembered the night in Cuiyun Room when the rebels from Linhai Camp sneaked in. In order to ease the atmosphere, Zhang Shou also muttered something like peanuts, potatoes, and chili in the Qingfeng Xulai Hall. At that moment, he memorized these terms again.
Even if they were dissatisfied with the emperor's arbitrary and biased reward when he selected a son-in-law the day before, this was the emperor's family affair. The officials could discuss it before going to court the next day, but no one was crazy enough to bring it up during the court session. However, when the court session ended that day and the cabinet received the task of drafting multiple imperial edicts at once, although several cabinet elders had been mentally prepared, they were still surprised.
Princess Deyang was betrothed to Zhang Wu, the fifth son of Marquis Nanyang, and they got married a year later.
The Princess of Xinyang was betrothed to Zhang Lu, the sixth son of Marquis Huaiqing, and they got married a year later.
Princess Ninghe was betrothed to Zhao Mingxiang, the second son of Zhao Zhiyuan, the deputy governor, and they got married a year later.
First, Princess Yongping was not among them. Second, the two sons of the Marquisate, who were the right-hand men of Zhang Chen, the head of Banshan Hall, married a princess and a county princess respectively. No one would believe that it was not for Jian's intention. As for the son of Governor Zhao, it was said that he had a harmonious relationship with his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and a harmonious family. He was of average talent. Not long after entering the Imperial College, he fell from the bottom of the six halls to Banshan Hall.
Therefore, if we look deeper, the three people chosen by the emperor were all students of Banshan Hall. No one would believe that Zhang Shou, who was also a candidate, had no influence on them!
Seeing his colleagues' different expressions, Wu Ge Lao, who always showed a smile, laughed and said, "The emperor is marrying his daughter and niece, so we outsiders should not think too much. Isn't it better to just follow the draft decree?"
"It's easy for you to say!" Prime Minister Jiang Ge Lao just retorted, and the voice of Academician Kong came from the side.
"Since it is a selection, it should be fair. The emperor loves the whole family, so this bias is too much! However, since the emperor is determined, there is no need to be stubborn on this matter. Whether the princess and the county lord will have a good marriage or not is like drinking water, and they know it themselves! It's not like you are taking me as a royal consort!"
