Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 269: Failure to teach strictly is the teacher's laziness
Ever since the marriage fraud rumor, Zhu Ying has always had a small knot in her heart. Even though Zhang Shou had clearly expressed his feelings to her that time, she still hoped to get the missing marriage certificate as soon as possible. However, the emperor had just been speaking for her, but Zhang Shou was still holding her back, so she was naturally a little sulky.
But she didn't expect that her father would suddenly agree so readily! In an instant, she grabbed Zhu Jing's arm and said with a smile: "I knew that Dad is the best to me!"
"When has Dad ever treated you badly? You just forgot about me when you got him. It makes me, as a father, very sad!" Zhu Jing teased his daughter half-seriously and half-jokingly. When Zhu Ying let go of his hand, he bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I have reported everything I should have reported just now . Now, can you allow me to leave? I have been away from the capital for a while, and my mother and wife have been working hard at home."
"Go, go!" The emperor looked like a wise ruler who cared for his subjects. He even waved his hand at Zhang Shou and said, "Zhang Shou, you should also send your future father-in-law back with you. Let him take a good look at you, so that you won't regret it when you get home to sign the marriage certificate."
Even though Zhu Jing knew that his cousin, the Supreme Emperor, had always been a playboy, he still didn't know whether to laugh or cry. But what he didn't expect was that Zhang Shou actually said, "The Emperor has ordered me to do this. I didn't dare to refuse. I also wanted to personally send Duke Zhao home so that he would have a good impression of me. But I have something important to report to the Emperor. If I go out and come back again, it will attract too much attention."
"Oh?" The emperor sat up straight in surprise, then smiled and said, "Then tell me about it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Jing said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I have just returned to Beijing. I will not listen to what Dr. Zhang said. Just let Yingying accompany me home."
Having said this, without waiting for the emperor to agree or refuse, he nodded slightly to Zhang Shou and said, "Zhang Shou, you stay here and tell the emperor everything you want to report. Yingying, let's go home first."
Zhu Ying still wanted to hear what Zhang Shou had to say, feeling unhappy. But this time, her wrist was tightly held by Zhu Jing. She could only glare at Zhang Shou angrily, and then was dragged out of the Qianqing Palace involuntarily.
As soon as she got out of the door, she complained in a low voice, having just managed to hold it back with great difficulty: "Dad, what are you doing? Ah Shou didn't tell us to leave, why did you drag me away so quickly!"
"We should distinguish between public and private matters." Zhu Jing finally let go of his hand, and with a complicated expression, he looked at his spoiled daughter. He said softly, "Zhang Shou didn't ask us to stay away, and the emperor didn't say so either, but there are some things that we should know. If the matter that Zhang Shou reported to the palace today is really important, and I stay there, what should I do if the emperor asks for my opinion?"
"Then just say it straight!" Zhu Ying blurted out instinctively, but then she came to her senses, "Dad, what you mean is that if you side with A Shou, it will be seen as favoring the son-in-law, and if you don't side with A Shou, it will be like undermining him. But the emperor has never cared about these things, otherwise he wouldn't value our family so much, and he wouldn't value A Shou so much..."
"The biggest taboo for an official is to become spoiled by his favor." Zhu Jing smiled slightly. Seeing Zhu Ying's disapproval, he smiled and said, "In fact, in the final analysis, I just want to avoid suspicion. If the husband you choose is a mediocre person, it would be fine, but he has his own ideas, so you have to consider him. Therefore, I, as the future father-in-law, should be more cautious."
When saying this, how could Zhu Jing be as fierce and decisive as when Chu Kuan mentioned him before, when he was killing assassins everywhere?
Zhang Shou had not expected Zhu Jing to take Zhu Ying away so quickly. Seeing the emperor looking at him with great joy as soon as he left, he could only cough lightly and never mention the embarrassing scene just now. He said directly: "Your Majesty, just before Yingying came to my house, Zhang Chen actually rushed back from Xingtai in an emergency."
The emperor, who had just had a playful expression on his face, immediately changed his expression to a serious one. Chu Kuan was also one of the people who knew the inside story of Zhang Chen's whereabouts. Hearing this, his heart skipped a beat. He was very glad that he had just heard the news of Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou's arrival and hurried out to dismiss all the palace servants who were waiting for him.
In the past few days, there has been constant news from Cangzhou. On the one hand, the eldest prince frequently reported good news, today talking about his achievements, tomorrow saying that the spinners were jubilant and thanking God for his grace. On the other hand, the local officials said different things. Some praised the eldest prince for loving the people like his own children, some accused him of disturbing the people, and some secretly reported that the eldest prince and the local nobles were in collusion...
Therefore, Chu Kuan couldn't help but be curious about the situation in Xingtai, where there was not much news. After all, the Imperial Household Department didn't have that many people, so at best they could only keep an eye on the capital.
However, when Zhang Shou told Chu Kuan about Zhang Chen's plea for help for Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, he was shocked. He glanced at the emperor and saw that the emperor's face was as dark as water, and he was obviously angry with those wealthy families.
Although the emperor was angry, he knew in his heart that it was impossible for a great emperor to personally deal with those unscrupulous businessmen.
Taizu valued commerce and even appointed the sons of merchants to serve as officials. Therefore, since the founding of the dynasty, there has been a principle of equality for scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. However, over the years, as merchants have become rich and powerful, many things have gone too far, and this is just one of them. Moreover, whether it is Cangzhou or Xingtai, compared with Jiangnan, the so-called local clans are at best rural tyrants.
However, compared to what Zhang Shou said, the local officials in Xingtai never said anything, which was more worrying than the constant news from Cangzhou. Did the Shunde prefect and the Xingtai county magistrate collude with the wealthy and kept the news secret? Or were they being kept in the dark and knew nothing? Or did the news come but something went wrong along the way?
The emperor became more and more upset the more he thought about it, but he did not expect Zhang Shou to suddenly change his tone: "Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, who openly repaired the plank road, did not make good progress, but Zhang Chen, who secretly crossed Chencang, did something even more daring."
Although the emperor had not recruited Zhang Chen as his son-in-law or nephew-in-law before, he had a good impression of Zhang Chen, who was rough and righteous. Zhang Chen had also used "falling off a horse" as an excuse to go to Xingtai before, and he was looking forward to what he could achieve. At this time, he couldn't help but ask with interest: "Oh, what did that kid do?"
Chu Kuan was also very curious. However, when Zhang Shou smiled bitterly and said that Zhang Chen was so audacious as to pretend to be the second prince's confidant and actually got the bronze identity plate with the word "Yanqing" engraved on it, he couldn't help but shudder.
How come Zhang Shou's students are more daring than each other? Lu Sanlang cheated the eldest prince out of 10,000 taels of silver, and Zhang Chen dared to sneak into the second prince's house!
Just when he was secretly worried about Zhang Shou, the emperor slapped his armrest heavily and said, "What an arrogant and daring boy! Does he think that I have punished Erlang before, so he doesn't take the prince seriously?"
Zhang Shou expected the emperor to react like this - no matter how bad the second prince was, he was still the emperor's own son, not picked up, and he couldn't let outsiders tease and toss him around. The previous incident with the eldest prince could be said to be an accident. After all, the second prince provoked it first, and the eldest prince tricked Lu Sanlang out and coerced and bribed him later, so their teacher-student responsibility was much lighter. But this time was different.
Zhang Chen took the initiative to trick the Second Prince. To put it more seriously, this kind of subjective malice is completely different!
He sighed deeply in his heart, then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Zhang Chen is my student. He is a righteous man, but impulsive and reckless. He will do many things if he thinks they are right, but he will not consider the impact behind them. I know that his actions are wrong, but I beg Your Majesty to forgive his sin this time because of his youth and ignorance."
"The teacher is lazy because he didn't teach him strictly. In the final analysis, it's because I didn't teach him to think twice before doing anything, so he acted without thinking, took an unbalanced approach, and made a big mistake. Therefore, all the mistakes are my fault."
Seeing Zhang Shou bowing to the ground, and no longer able to see the expression on his face, and the emperor sitting there with a gloomy face and not saying a word, Chu Kuan could not help but feel anxious. However, even though he was the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, and wanted to ask Zhang Shou to go to the Ancient and Modern Collection Library to look at the various Taizu manuscripts that had been accumulated for many years, he did not dare to speak easily on such matters.
After all, it is the emperor's household affairs!
This unspeakable silence lasted for a while. Finally, the emperor said calmly, "Get up and tell me exactly ."
Zhang Shou did not shy away from the main point just now. He first talked about Zhang Chen's achievements, and then said that he was bold and reckless just for this opportunity. Because he felt that the emperor's temperament should not like such tricks.
He straightened up and told the whole story in a concise manner how Zhang Chen had first tricked the Second Prince into giving him the bronze medal at Yanqing Villa, how he had pretended to be the Second Prince's confidant on his way down to Xingtai, how he had borrowed money from wealthy households to collect cotton, and how he had then driven away the First Prince's men. He then told the story of how he had recruited weavers and started weaving cloth locally with the collected cotton yarn.
When the emperor heard that Zhang Chen had driven away the eldest prince's men, the corners of his mouth could not help but twitch slightly. When he heard that the local wealthy families had to submit to Zhang Chen and lend him money to store cotton, and that Zhang Chen even pretended to go against Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, he had nothing to say.
Based on his understanding of Zhang Chen, that guy definitely thought that pretending to be the second prince's confidant would allow him to do things without restraint, which was convenient and quick, so he did it! Expecting him to think of the consequences and impact would simply be overestimating that reckless guy! Otherwise, that guy would not have suddenly lifted the lid when everyone was avoiding the Linhai Camp because he saw injustice!
But as he listened, the emperor couldn't help but let out a sigh, then stared at Zhang Shou and asked, "You also asked Zhang Chen to recruit a group of weavers along the way and set up a weaving workshop in the local area? Could it be that in addition to the new spinning machine that greatly increases efficiency, you have also made a new loom?"
Hua Qi never mentioned this! He had summoned Ah Liu before, but he never mentioned it!
Zhang Shou seemed not to notice Chu Kuan's repeated winks at him, and lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I just feel that since the new loom has caused such a big disturbance before, even if it is almost finished, it is better to keep it for a while and wait until the time is right before taking it out."
The emperor snorted unkindly: "Oh, so now you think the time is right?"
"The timing was not right originally, but Zhang Chen's disturbance has forced Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu into a desperate situation. The timing has to be right now." Zhang Shou sighed and raised his head, "Your Majesty, please give me paper and pen, so I can draw the corresponding drawings and present them to you."
Chu Kuan heaved a sigh of relief after hearing Zhang Shou's clear statement. However, just as he was about to prepare paper and pen, the emperor suddenly raised his hand to stop him, and then said with a smile: "Zhang Qing, do you want to use the blueprint of this new loom to offset the sins committed by Zhang Chen before? You should know that if the loom is as efficient as the new spinning machine, then I should reward you handsomely."
Zhang Shou asked calmly, then shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, you are too serious. I have already said that Zhang Chen's fault is actually because I, as a teacher, did not give instructions in advance. So if your Majesty really says so, this blueprint is also to compensate for my sins, but he is meritorious and innocent . Moreover, the so-called extremely high returns are actually not accurate."
He knew that such a statement might not meet the emperor's expectations, but he continued calmly.
“Whether it’s spinning or weaving, no matter how efficient it is, if the cotton fields at the source have limited output, then a large number of spinners will soon find that there is no cotton to spin and the number of working days is insufficient. And the weavers will also find this out quickly. So, if the owner of the workshop only suffers a small loss, the spinners and weavers will soon find that they have been cheated.”
The emperor, who had been feeling relaxed, sat up straight and nodded, saying, "I remember you said this in the document you submitted to me before. There are only two ways to increase revenue. One is to reclaim wasteland and plant cotton, and the other is to... convert rice fields and wheat fields into cotton fields."
"That's right!" Zhang Shou nodded heavily. "In the fertile areas of Jiangnan, this phenomenon will become more and more serious because of the pursuit of profit."
The emperor's face suddenly darkened. Even the Taizu who valued commerce also valued agriculture. In other words, he valued agriculture more than commerce. After all, only when the farmland has enough output can the people of the world have enough food. If the people of the world have enough food, they will not rebel. Apart from foreign invasions, famine caused by floods and droughts is often the first reason for the demise of a country.
But Zhang Shou had not finished speaking.
"Of course, if there is an adequate supply of cotton and sufficient yarn is spun, then the final output of woven cotton cloth will be quite exaggerated. Although the price of cotton cloth will certainly fall due to the excessive amount, the income of spinners and weavers may be slightly higher because the output has increased by at least four or five times. Although the specific amount cannot be determined, it should be more than half."
"Once they have money, they will naturally try to improve their lives. The demand for meat and eggs that they cannot afford on ordinary days may be even greater."
