Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 834: Three Cobblers, One Zhuge Liang
When Lord Wu said that the ghosts were caused by dead people, such as Grand Secretary Kong and Zhang Yu, he was thinking of the eldest prince who had died and the second prince whose life or death was unknown after the shipwreck. As for the emperor, although he knew that the two brothers were always bold and daring, he was thinking of some officials who committed suicide by taking poison when the capital was in chaos before.
The first and second princes were so bored that they wanted to forge an imperial edict to ask Goryeo to pay tribute? It was impossible for them to marry a Goryeo princess. If their mother was still alive, she might have resorted to such a trick because she hated Concubine Yu and other concubines. But no matter who was the mastermind, there must be someone who carried it out.
He remembered that among those who committed suicide before, there was a person from the Xingren Division . The Xingren Division was in charge of issuing imperial edicts to foreign countries. In the past, the imperial court sent envoys to foreign countries. Sometimes, they would send high-ranking officials with high standards, but most of the time, they would just send a envoy. He remembered that the envoy who went to confer the title of the Queen and the Queen Mother in response to the King of Goryeo's plea was from the Xingren Division.
Thinking of this, the emperor couldn't help but feel extremely annoyed. If Goryeo pretended to obey the imperial edict, but in fact it was just to curry favor with him, then it would be easy to deal with, and he would do whatever he had to do. If someone in the court forged the imperial edict and asked Goryeo to send a tribute girl, and they really sent the woman respectfully, wouldn't it be a disgrace to foreign countries?
The emperor, with a long face, pounded the armrest in extreme anger, and then asked coldly: "Tell me, what should we do?"
What to do? This time, the three ministers looked at each other again. Even Wu, who had just awakened the dreamer, pulled his few beards in embarrassment and had no idea for a long time. After a long while, seeing that his two colleagues were all looking at him, Kong Daxueshi, who had no title of Prime Minister but was responsible for the Prime Minister, had to bite the bullet and take the lead.
"Since they have been sent here, just let them enter the palace." Seeing the emperor's disgusted expression, Academician Kong had to patiently persuade him, "Your Majesty, they are just some women. If you don't like them, there is no need to make them concubines. You can just take them in as palace maids. There are so many palaces in the palace, and they can't walk around anywhere. Anyway, we can't see them..."
"Although they are Korean girls, they were born to their parents. If I really wanted them, I could have taken them into the palace. But I didn't want them, so why should I raise them for nothing?" The emperor's first words showed the compassion of an emperor, but his second sentence fully exposed his usual bad character.
Even if he didn't raise concubines, but only palace maids, it would cost money, right? He spent this money for no reason, it's not like he had nothing better to do! Moreover, after spending the money, he was still accused by outsiders of being lustful. What a waste of money!
Scholar Kong was so choked by the emperor's words that he felt uneasy. But he didn't expect that something even more exciting was coming: "Since you, Mr. Kong, feel that it is unreasonable to send these women back all the way, then I will simply marry them off to important officials, and you can bring one home when you return!"
This is simply a case of a person standing in the palace and being blamed. Even if Confucius knew that his wife was a virtuous woman praised by the outside world, he took a noblewoman from Korea back home as a concubine...wouldn't the family be in turmoil? Even if his wife didn't make a fuss, his children would still be resentful. He was not a lustful person. Was he mentally ill to make the family restless for a woman who didn't matter to him?
And he is not the only one involved. From the emperor's tone, it seems that he intends to treat all the important officials of the court home one by one, just like rain and dew. If this is true, and the three cabinet ministers knew the news but did not stop it, they will be stabbed to death!
So, Grand Secretary Kong immediately said in a serious tone: "It is indeed inappropriate to send tribute girls from Goryeo. However, it is even more inappropriate for the emperor not to take them into the palace but to give them to his subjects. It is important to know that Goryeo is different from our dynasty. It values legitimate daughters over illegitimate daughters the most. These Goryeo girls sent to the capital must be legitimate daughters. It is an honor to be able to enter the emperor's family, but it is a humiliation to be a concubine of a subject."
Seeing the emperor's playful smile, Kong Daxueshi could not help but rack his brains to think of a countermeasure, and of course he did not forget to give Wu Ge Lao and Zhang Yu a look, suggesting that they should also join in. Otherwise, although he would take one back, would the other two be able to stay out of it?
Lord Wu is good at playing the peacemaker. Apart from his old wife, he has no other concubines at home. But he has many children and grandchildren. His old wife gave birth to three sons and four daughters for him. The wives of his three sons gave birth to four grandsons and three granddaughters. And considering their young age, they may be able to have more children. So of course, he would not bring a Korean concubine home at such an old age.
But when he heard the reason given by Master Kong, he really wanted to laugh. It was just a nice way to call her a noble lady from Goryeo. Did she really think she was so noble? In the poor corners of Goryeo, the so-called nobles had nothing to eat or wear. Even many of their colorful clothes were bought from the Ming Dynasty. Why couldn't a legitimate daughter become a concubine?
The concubines of Ming Dynasty officials might dress better than the princesses there!
But thinking this in his heart, Wu Ge Lao smiled and would not say such words directly. Seeing that the emperor was obviously not impressed by the reason given by Kong Daxueshi, and Zhang Yu frowned and thought hard but could not think of any other reason, he secretly sneered that at the critical moment, he, the emperor's yes-man who could best understand the emperor's thoughts, had to step in.
"Your Majesty, when we saw the letter from Goryeo, the draft said there was no imperial edict and no tribute girl. That's because we were really surprised by the words 'by imperial edict' in the letter. But what did our dynasty say when it issued the imperial edict? Since there is something fishy going on, I'm afraid it's useless to just look for the draft of our imperial edict. I think we should try it out first."
At this point, Wu Ge Lao paused, then said with a smile: "It seems that the Goryeo royal family member Shanjun who came this time is going to study in the Imperial College? In this case, find a few noble children to take him out for a walk, and ask him a few questions. I think we can find out the truth."
However, when Lord Wu said this, the scholar Kong next to him said unhappily, "Lord Wu, you must have forgotten one thing, right? There don't seem to be many noble children in the Imperial College now. Banshan Hall has moved to the Outer City Public School."
Wu Ge Lao's face froze for a moment, and then he said sarcastically in annoyance, "What Grand Secretary Kong said is strange. In the six halls of the Imperial College, there is not even one noble son? Back then, the eldest son of the Duke of Zhao was the best in the six halls and was very famous. Now, there is not a single talented official son in the six halls. Are the officials of the Imperial College just eating for free?"
Zhang Yu saw that this time it was Wu Ge Lao and Kong Daxueshi who were confronting each other, and he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. However, he secretly glanced at the emperor and saw that although he was stroking his chin without making any comment, his eyes were obviously a little erratic, and it was obvious that he was distracted.
Considering the emperor's character, he secretly felt that the emperor approved of Wu Ge Lao's proposal. However, even he felt that it was unrealistic to pick someone like Zhu Tingfang who was both civil and military and had outstanding abilities in the Imperial College.
Not to mention the Imperial College, many people who passed the imperial examinations and wrote brilliant essays also stumbled when they first became officials and had many shortcomings in dealing with people. In his opinion, the best students in the Imperial College were the wrong people to deal with a Korean noble like Zhe Shanjun.
So, he said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I think this plan of Wu Gelao is feasible. However, although the King of Goryeo is young, they have been forcing my father to abdicate since the founding of the country, and then forced my brother to abdicate, and then there was the Jingnan Rebellion... In short, there has been no peace. The royal family must be scheming at a young age, so ordinary students with good character and academic performance are probably useless."
Grand Scholar Kong immediately understood Zhang Yu's hidden meaning and asked with a gloomy face, "Grand Scholar Zhang, do you mean that if the students are not good enough, we should ask those little rascals in the public school to come forward?"
"How can you call him a little rascal?" Lord Wu had just spent so much time haggling with Grand Scholar Kong just to bring up this issue, but he didn't expect that Zhang Yu got there first. He was a little annoyed, but since someone was there to help him stand up to Grand Scholar Kong, he was naturally happy to continue presenting facts and reasoning.
"Lu Gaoyuan turned from a prodigal son to a genius; Zhang Zishen turned from a tyrant to a wise man; Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu also did a great job in Xingtai; Zhu Erlang is now Zhu Gonghao Nong... Among these people, only Lu Sanlang is in the public school, and the others have actually graduated. Their status is not lower than that mountain master, and their knowledge is far superior, and..."
"Master Kong, would a Goryeo royal like Jesanjun be willing to associate with those ordinary students whom he could never recruit and who are completely useless to him, or would he be willing to associate with these noble children whose status is noble and whose elders are important officials and nobles in the court, who may be of help to him in the future?"
After being told so much by Wu Ge Lao, Grand Secretary Kong could only shut up helplessly. Although the false edict incident had nothing to do with him, he still didn't want to give Zhang Shou or Lu Sanlang and Zhang Chen a chance to shine. However, he only had outstanding talents in his pocket, and he really couldn't afford a nobleman like Zhang Chen.
But this did not prevent him from sneering: "Don't forget, the Goryeo royal family member that Zhang Chen once scolded in the street is now the King of Goryeo. If that Zheshanjun has any brains, he will hide as far away from Zhang Chen as possible!"
"That kid dared to disobey the Grand Master's order, so he should be scolded and beaten."
This time, it was the emperor who spoke up with a cold face: "If I encounter this, I will do the same. Goryeo claims to follow Confucianism, but in reality it treats people as animals and tramples on the people's strength. The so-called imperial examination is nothing more than two groups of students competing on the same field. The noble ones are always noble, and the humble ones are always humble. They have only learned a little bit of the imperial examinations of our China!"
Academician Kong was terrified when he heard this, fearing that the emperor would get angry and plan to issue an edict to reprimand Goryeo - fortunately, the emperor only cursed him a few times and then smiled after that.
"But what does it have to do with me? Emperor Gaozong of Tang defeated Goguryeo and destroyed it, but it ended up benefiting Silla. As long as they are obedient, I don't care if they treat my people as livestock! As for riding in a sedan chair within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, considering that the boy is still young and has been traveling on a bumpy road, and speaks respectfully, I will just send someone to give him a few words of warning and that's it."
After hearing that the emperor had already set the tone, Wu Ge Lao smiled and said, "I have heard a little about the reason why this Zheshan Jun took a sedan chair to the city gate and then changed to a carriage prepared by the Ministry of Hosts and Guests. It is said that the two carriages he was riding in were bumpy and repaired all the way, and finally they could not hold up and fell apart, but he did not want to ride in other people's carriages, so he took out the sedan chair prepared by his entourage and used it."
"Didn't the Fourth Prince meet the Korean envoys when he was returning to the capital with Scholar Zhang? He had never seen a Korean sedan chair before, and he even curiously asked what tribute was in the big box carried by the four people."
After the Fourth Prince returned to the palace, he was so busy telling about his interesting experiences in the countryside that he didn't even mention the Goryeo delegation. Therefore, the Emperor only just found out that Zhang Shou and his party had run into the Goryeo delegation.
After hearing Elder Wu's vivid account of the whole incident, the emperor couldn't help but laugh. Finally, he patted the armrest and said, "That's it. Don't let Zhang Chen go. I've sent that kid to solve his lifelong affairs first. Let Fatty Lu go. No, that little fat guy is busy begging for alms and dealing with that fund with Yingying... Well, let Zhu Erlang go!"
The emperor picked the candidates without much hesitation, and then said calmly: "Bring the big guy from the Xiangyang Earl's family and Ji Jiu from Jiuzhang Hall, and let them have some experience as well."
Hearing this, even though Confucius had nothing to do with the Goryeo Zheshanjun, he still couldn't help but shed a tear of sympathy for him. However, when he left the Qianqing Palace, he suddenly remembered something. He forgot to ask the emperor, if Zheshanjun entered the Imperial College, which of the six halls should he be placed in, and which doctor should be in charge.
However, seeing that Wu Ge Lao was smiling and talking to Zhang Yu, he didn't want to turn back, so he just walked a few steps quickly to make it clear that he didn't see it. Since the death of his cousin, those cases were solved quickly because of his trick of cutting off the firewood from the bottom of the pot, but his reputation was affected after all.
Of course, what upset him the most was that he openly agreed, but in fact he played a trick on Zhu Tingfang. He didn't know when the knife in the hand of this eldest son Zhu would come out! He really didn't want to have any more conflicts with the Zhu family and Zhang Shou, for fear of being tricked to death!
The emperor certainly would not specifically issue an order for such a private affair, let alone send someone to talk to Zhu Er alone. So, Zhang Shou, who had just returned from the palace for a rare day of rest, was practicing his horrible calligraphy under Zhu Ying's guidance when he suddenly received a notice from outside saying that the emperor had sent someone to confer the award.
As the New Year was coming to an end, Zhang Shou, who had been receiving so many rewards, could not help but rub his wrist suspiciously, and Zhu Ying was also a little confused. When the couple met the person together and found that it was Chen Yongshou who , and the so-called reward was a box, they could not help but look at each other. Could it be what they imagined?
Sure enough, the next moment, Chen Yongshou laughed dryly and said, "I think the palace will think it is a gift, but in fact, the emperor said that since it is the Northwest Development Fund with the word "Da Ming" in its name, it would be unreasonable if he did not contribute, so he sent this box. By the way, please ask the eldest lady to tell Mr. Zhu Er that the emperor asked him to invite the King of Gaoli to visit the capital and find out what is going on with the tribute girl from Gaoli. Oh, and bring the big guy from the public school and Ji Jiu."
