Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 869: Put yourself in others' shoes and continue to fool people
The sudden split of the Zhao family was not concealed, but since the bride was going to marry the next day, it did not cause any immediate disturbance. However, after the wedding, which was not a small event, the news of the split spread. Of course, it was not the Zhu family who took the initiative to publicize it, but Weinan Earl Zhang Kang.
And this Weinan Earl, who had many illegitimate sons and daughters, divided his two married sons after returning home, giving each of them a considerable fortune - considering that he was also famous for his wealth, and said that this was because of the division of the Zhu family. Although he did not reveal the specific situation over there, it was clear that one was divided into four, and who knows how many families were undercurrents.
Especially those fathers, each of them hated the Zhu family's behavior. They divided the family property with their sons, and the amount they got was almost the same as their sons'? Why?
Shouldn't I, as the father, enjoy it first, and then the rest should be divided among my sons?
So, seeing that Duke Zhao Zhu Jing was sitting in the Ministry of War as if nothing had happened, as if he didn't care at all that the property that should have been his alone was taken up by his two sons and one daughter for more than half, he couldn't stand it anymore - of course he was also afraid that this kind of atmosphere would affect his own family, so he mentioned it in a tactful way. As a result, he was speechless after just a few words from Zhu Jing.
"I have never cared about or known anything about the wealth and money in the family. Isn't it enough to have enough money?"
Is it enough to have enough money? In most people's minds, when can money be used? It costs money to keep concubines and servants, to wear silk and satin, to live in a luxurious house, to travel with carriages and entourage, to eat, drink and have fun in places where you can easily spend a lot of money... In addition, there are hobbies that require huge investments, such as collecting books, antiques, weapons, etc. Which one doesn't cost money?
The person who was testing him wanted to accuse Zhu Jing of being hypocritical, but after changing his mind, he immediately became depressed again.
Everyone in the capital knew about Zhu Ying's extravagance. However, Duke Zhao Zhu Jing was a man known for his integrity. His wife had been meditating in a temple for many years, but he did not have any maids or concubines. He never went out to get drunk, did not dress extravagantly, had enough houses at home, and did not even have any special hobbies. All his weapons were given to him by the emperor.
How much can such a person spend every year? Can he really say that it is enough to have enough money ?
After Zhu Jing's words spread, the voices of discussion suddenly died down. When the emperor learned that this was the division of the family presided over by the Taifu, he also found this attitude of treating all descendants equally and not separating the family as a whole new and interesting. Of course, when he talked about it with several court officials, he also specifically mentioned that it was not the first time that the Zhu family had divided the family.
Earlier, Zhu Jing's brothers were also divided by the madam at an early stage. She gave them a considerable sum of money and a suitable but definitely not high position, and then they went out to live on their own. They have refused to return to Beijing until now. Although the current separation of the family but not separation is different from the previous one, the actual meaning is similar.
As for the empress dowager, after learning about this, she specially ordered the summoning of the two grandsons and nephews' wives. After rewarding them with a few things, she told them to always pay attention to the physical condition of the lady and to send someone to report to the palace at any time if there was anything.
Zhang and Wang both understood the implication of the words. It turned out that the Queen Mother was worried about the separation of the Madam because she had a premonition that the end was near. They had just tried hard not to think in that direction before, but now they couldn't help but feel heavy in their hearts.
One of the two sisters-in-law had just married, and the other had been married for only a few months, and suddenly they had a windfall. Even though they were both very smart and had not thought about how to save private money for their own families, they were naturally grateful to the lady. But when she thought that all the expenses of the public house in the future would depend on the salaries of Zhu Jing and Zhu Tingfang, Wang, the daughter-in-law, felt even more guilty.
Therefore, when she left Qingning Palace, she tactfully told her sister-in-law Zhang that this was a bit unfair. However, after a slight pause, Zhang immediately smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, although the father-in-law is a duke and the Minister of War, his salary is quite high, and Zhu Lang also holds real power, and his salary in this dynasty is almost comparable to that in the Song Dynasty, but when it comes to the expenses of the family, it is actually still not enough."
Wang had also been a housewife before, so she was slightly stunned and then understood what was going on.
For an honest official like Wang Jie who lived simply and never liked to buy property, his salary and expenses were just barely balanced. For example, the food and drink expenses of the large family of Duke Zhao's mansion alone were a very large number, and the salary of the father and son alone was far from enough. So, who was subsidizing them?
Just as Wang was thinking this, Zhang said softly, "It's very simple. It's all subsidized by the Madam Tai."
Seeing that everyone was stunned, she said with emotion, "Elders like Madam Tai are the rarest in the world. After she divided the family, she left a sum of money for herself. But she didn't hide it away, planning to give it to someone she liked a hundred years later, such as our sister-in-law. Instead, she took it out openly and told me to use it at home."
This time, Wang was completely speechless. Recalling that after marriage, Zhu Er often nagged her about being filial to her grandmother and making up for the past years, she said softly, "Grandma is indeed respectable, but I'm afraid her illness won't get better in a day or two. Sister-in-law, you have to manage the household, and if possible, let me take care of Grandma."
"I used to serve the elderly when I was a child. Although I dare not say anything about medical skills, I have learned prescriptions, moxibustion, medicinal baths and the like. It is better to specialize in a profession than to be unable to do anything at all."
If the old lady still held a large fortune, then Wang's active statement might be misinterpreted as seeking favor and profit, but now that the old lady has presided over the division of the family and all her own money has been put into the public treasury for expenses, Zhang certainly couldn't think so. And she didn't pretend to be polite with her brother and sister-in-law, and nodded after a moment's hesitation.
"Grandma will be very happy that you have such a thought. But we can't let you suffer alone. How about this, we divide the household affairs into two parts, and each of us will do half. We will also each do half of the work of taking care of grandma."
The two sisters-in-law discussed these things without hiding them from the guide in the palace, so the Queen Mother in Qingning Palace was quickly informed. The Queen Mother was naturally quite satisfied with their frank attitude. Apart from the illness of the wife, there was nothing else for the Zhu family to worry about, but it was different for the emperor.
If she had to say who in the world made her most worried, then the emperor would definitely be the first! And such a worrying emperor had encountered a more bizarre storm than the struggle for the throne since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. She just hoped that there would not be any drama of the army and navy crossing the sea to attack.
It’s not that they are afraid of just Goryeo, but throughout history, those small countries in the northeast, from Goryeo to Japan, have made too many big countries taste the bitter fruit of failure!
A few days later, the official messenger from Goryeo finally arrived to announce the death. As expected, he also requested to bring back Jasangun to succeed the late king. Of course, the letter was stamped with the seal of Princess Cisheng. After calculating the distance and time, the emperor and his court officials knew that the messenger who had asked for punishment had probably arrived at the capital of Goryeo, but it was still too early for them to respond .
However, the messenger sent to Huitong South Pavilion was not as tired as the previous messenger who almost fainted from exhaustion, but he was also very weak. But he still insisted on seeing the Minister of Rites, who was the chief envoy. When he found out that he was going to see him together with Zheshanjun, the messenger, who was not of high rank but from the Yangban class, immediately realized something.
The king of the country had just passed away, and they had already known about it! But he didn't care about that at the moment. He hurriedly talked about the encounter with the messenger from the Celestial Empire on the way and the venomous attitude of the other party. He hurriedly asked, "Could it be that the Celestial Empire had already known about the king's death, so they were unwilling to let Zheshanjun return to the country to succeed the throne?"
The expression on the face of the Councilor of Rites changed several times. After Zheshan Jun nodded slightly, he solemnly told him that a messenger from the country had arrived before. Seeing that the messenger in front of him immediately looked unhappy, he changed the subject and told him about the huge incident of the death of the second prince.
At this moment, the messenger who was not very fluent in Chinese finally turned pale. He thought about the arrogant attitude of the Chinese messenger he met at a post station on the border. It turned out that such a big thing had happened! God knows that his family tried their best to get him such an assignment for the merit of delivering the message, but he didn't expect that he missed a lot of information because of not knowing the language!
Although he was exhausted, he still asked cautiously: "Then what should we do next?"
"No, what can I do? I will continue to go to my teacher's class." Zhe Shanjun lowered his eyelids. His face no longer showed the hesitation of the first few days. Instead, he revealed a bit of determination. Even when he saw the messenger's panic expression, he said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has agreed to send me off in March, and he also promised to give me 35 kinds of Confucian classics."
He paused and added, "In addition, there is also the arithmetic scripture."
The messenger couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Seeing that Zheshanjun had no intention of explaining and just walked out of the door, he couldn't help but look for help to the Councilor of Rites beside him, hoping that the other party could give him a good explanation.
"It's a long story. Anyway, you just need to know that our future king's teacher is very important. He is the teacher of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Celestial Empire. That's enough."
The messenger originally thought that Zheshan Jun had already entered the Imperial College, and this so-called teacher was just a teacher of the Imperial College. When he heard that he was actually the teacher of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, he was immediately surprised and happy. But just when he thought that this was the great importance that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty attached to Zheshan Jun, he suddenly remembered the important event he had just learned, and his mood suddenly became anxious again.
Could it be that we are going to return to the situation during the Yuan Dynasty, when generation after generation of kings were kept in Dadu like hostages, and everything from teaching to dethronement and enthronement was left to the imperial decree of Emperor Yuan?
Zheshan Jun had no time to care what the new messenger was thinking. However, as the return date approached, he still didn't know what the Ming Dynasty court was going to do, so he hoped to get some clues from Zhang Shou. The more casual and unpretentious a person was to him, the more he felt that such a person was more reliable than those who were wary or attentive.
Therefore, even though Zhang Shou was still selling private goods during class, Zheshan Jun didn't care at all and listened attentively. Especially when Zhang Shou talked about the Kaiyuan period, when Yuwen Rong cleaned up the hidden households, which touched the power of the court and the local big families, thus causing a violent backlash, so that he was dismissed from his position and died in a foreign land, he couldn't help but turn pale.
When he heard about the great backlash and turmoil in the court caused by Guangwu's land measurement in the Han Dynasty, he felt even more depressed. Especially when Zhang Shou attributed the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the fact that Guangwu's land measurement was abandoned halfway in the early years, which led to the increasing power of the nobles and eventually became uncontrollable, causing the people to suffer, his expression became even more solemn.
As a member of the royal family, he did not receive a systematic royal education because his father died young and his uncle was young and strong with a son. Although his well-educated mother taught him a little, it was all fragmentary and unsystematic. Moreover, his mother did not know everything about the history of Wang Goryeo and Lee Joseon, not to mention the huge country to their west.
So, Zheshan Jun listened and finally couldn't help asking: "Then what the teacher means is that the Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty should have just acted recklessly?"
"The later generations just talk about the merits and demerits of their predecessors, but it's not that easy." Zhang Shou sneered, and then said lightly, "I won't say such things even in Ciqing Palace, because it will arouse jealousy. You know, although there are no wealthy families nowadays, there are still gentry and clans. If they stick together, even the government can't do anything about it."
"At least the Ming Dynasty has strict laws and countless officials, but what about Goryeo? Those officials from the Yangban class, can they oppose their clans just because of the king's decree? It's obvious that this is impossible!"
Seeing that Zhe Shanjun was extremely depressed, Zhang Shou said nonchalantly: "In the final analysis, power comes from the barrel of a gun... from the sword. In your place, the so-called king is more often just a puppet in the hands of nobles and relatives. Most of the time, the army cannot be controlled as one would like, so where does the real say come from?"
Without waiting for Zheshanjun to protest, he said nonchalantly: "No matter how much you invest in the old soldiers of the old army, it will not bring any results. If you want to see results, you should quietly select a group of young and ignorant children in remote areas, start from a young age, train a new army, and then rely on such a team to gradually gain your own voice..."
Outside the hall, Hua Qi couldn't help but pick his ears, then pointed inside and whispered to Ah Liu, who remained calm outside, "You don't care?"
Is it my turn to manage Young Master? Ah Liu glanced at Hua Qi in confusion: "The Emperor came once the day before yesterday and told Young Master about the garrison on Jeju Island. Wasn't he worried about how to station the army in Goryeo?"
Hua Qi was speechless. Zhang Shou was so deceiving, actually just for the purpose of stationing troops... Why did he feel that he was trying to incite the King of the Mountain to overthrow his own Goryeo royal family?
