Chapter 829 Jizi Juan Tianjia Matters

For Zhang Qi and Zhang Ji, there is the eldest brother Shou Wang Zhang Chi, the old Jiu Lu King Zhang So, and the other thirteenth old King Gong Zhang Ji is still young, less than ten years old, so there is no need to think about it for the time being. It can be said that the two are right. It’s stressful for everyone.

The eldest brother, King Shou, was supported by the imperial concubine Xu who now had the advantage of being in charge of the Sixth Palace. He was the eldest son, and his character, talent and learning were not bad in all aspects. Although the eldest son of the Zhou Dynasty did not establish the heir apparent based on the eldest concubine, the eldest son still had certain advantages.

The advantage of the two brothers Zhang Qi and Zhang Ji is that they are born from the same mother and support each other. The two also secretly agreed that no matter who gets the position of Dabao in the end, they must at least eliminate the common enemy first.

Although Zhang Su, the ninth child, had just turned fourteen, he was very talented and learned. His mother, Concubine Mei, was the daughter of a large family in Mizhi, Shaanxi. When Emperor Yonglong was still King Zhongxiao, he was assigned to work in Shaanxi and he met her by chance. When she arrived, she was shocked to be a heavenly being, so she was included in his imperial palace. This plum concubine was of heavenly beauty, and it was said in the palace that she had the art of bewitching. Otherwise, Emperor Yonglong would risk the disapproval of the world and include her in his imperial palace. Logically speaking, Emperor Yonglong was not allowed to engage in private acts while serving his duties, and he was later punished by Emperor Yuanxi for this.

This Concubine Mei was extremely favored by Emperor Yonglong. In the past few years, Emperor Yonglong began to devote himself to cultivating his body and keeping away from women, and this gradually faded away.

"Fourth brother, you said that my father didn't like us intervening in court affairs before, and even my eldest brother rarely got my father's permission to do anything. Now if we take the initiative to interrogate the court affairs, will it...?" Zhang Qi asked. He stroked his chin with his hand and pondered.

"Second brother, times have changed. In the past two years, my father's body was relatively healthy. However, you have noticed that in the past year or so, my father's health has not been as good as before. Even the frequency of going to court has been reduced a lot. Now let's go to court again. If you mention this matter, you may not be reprimanded by your father. Are we also dedicated to sharing your father's worries? Moreover, government affairs have always been controlled by the six ministries of the cabinet. We are just assisting in handling errands and learning. Moreover, we can also test it here. Father’s thoughts.” Zhang Ji pondered and said, “Although eldest brother didn’t make any movement some time ago, I guess he is still observing the situation, and maybe he will make some moves soon.”

Zhang Qi was also shocked by Zhang Ji's words. Only then did he realize that his brother seemed to think more long-term and more carefully than he did. Although he didn't show it at all on the surface, he had so much thought on the inside.

Although the two had a gentleman's agreement before, even Zhang Qi himself felt that the agreement at that time was a bit half-joking. After all, it was three or four years ago. Neither he nor the other party expected that his father was still in good health. It had become so bad in just two or three years. Before, they were more worried about their grandfather and the uncle. Even their father had never denied this.

But now, Zhang Qi was a little dazzled by the confusing situation. His grandfather, uncle, father, King Shou, King Lu, and his own brother made Zhang Qi a little upset for a while. He didn't know who he could trust. No matter who you rely on, you don’t know what you should do to best suit the current situation.

 Zhang Ji noticed his brother's expression changing and asked tentatively: "Second brother, what do you think of my suggestion?"

Zhang Qi gathered his thoughts, stabilized his mind, and asked in a deep voice: "Then where do you think we brothers should start?"

Zhang Ji pondered for a while and then said: "Laojiu's visit to Qingtan Academy is nothing more than making connections and cultivating connections. Qi Yongtai and Guan Yingzhen, one is a leader of scholars in the North and the other is a leader of scholars in Huguang, both are with Qingtan Academy has a lot of connections. If we want to participate in government affairs, we just need to learn how to do things. In a sense, it actually means getting to know officials and getting closer, or in other words, enhancing mutual understanding and understanding some government affairs. Even if the basic rules and secrets of handling are pretty good, what’s more important is to identify, familiarize and discover those people who can do things in the future..."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Zhang Ji realized that what he said was a little too thorough, and he didn't know what his brother would think after hearing it.

He glanced at the other party quietly, but saw that the other party was only concentrating on it, seemingly unaware of the meaning of his previous words, and felt slightly relieved.

In fact, he didn't know that Zhang Qi had been extremely shocked by his brother's words. It was just that he had been accustomed to hiding his true side for a long time, so he could not see anything on the surface, but when he thought about how his brother was already planning how to use it to do things, He came to make friends with officials, build relationships with them, and even discover talents that he could use for his own use in the future. This made him even more wary of his younger brother.

 “Second brother?”

"Well, fourth brother, I'm thinking that since we have to learn how to do things, we should have a direction. The Ministry of Personnel, Household Affairs, Rites, Soldiers, Punishments, and Works are not our turn. The Ministry of Rites is the most logical. It's suitable, but it's still hard to see any results. The Ministry of War is the most effective. Didn't my father and uncle Ninth rely on their experience in military affairs to stand out from many uncles and be valued by the emperor's grandfather? ?But now the military situation in the border areas is a little different. Whether it is the Mongols or the Jurchens, it is very difficult..."

Zhang Qi sighed, "The rest is the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Works. These two are not bad, but the Ministry of Punishment requires a certain amount of luck. It will excel when it encounters major and important cases. If you are not lucky, you can only travel around for a year and a half. Outside, no one knows that the Ministry of Works does have a lot of things to do, but they are trivial and complicated and may not be suitable for the current state of mind of you and me."

Zhang Ji was also shocked in his heart. He had known for a long time that his brother was not as lustful as he seemed on the surface. Just from the contact with his brother about court affairs in the future, it can be seen that he also had teeth. It's a thought, but it's good, at least now the two brothers are not plotting against each other.

“Have you ever considered the Metropolitan Procuratorate?” Zhang Ji asked.

“The Metropolitan Procuratorate?!” Zhang Qi looked at the other party deeply, “What do you think, fourth brother?”

"Not yet, but I think what the second brother just said is very reasonable. However, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has also done a lot of outstanding achievements in the past two years. For example, Shaanxi Governor Yun Guang and Tui Guo Gong Shi's family were captured , like the big hole dug by Zhejiang Yanzheng, it not only established prestige, but also recovered a lot of money for the imperial household department. The second brother should know what is most important to his father now, isn't it money? Otherwise, Feng Ziying would be the second-level Jinshi , why go directly to the Hanlin Academy to write and write? I am more proud than being the second best scholar in the first grade."

 Zhang Qi was deeply convinced by what he said.

"Well said, if we can start from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, even if we just follow the example, the censors will eventually share the credit with us. Even if it doesn't work, they can still do it in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If you get to know each other inside, you can have someone to take care of you in the future..." Zhang Qi nodded repeatedly.

  ************

Xing Xiuyan and Miaoyu didn’t think too much.

These days, there are a lot of disciples everywhere. Although Xing Xiuyan also felt that most of these dandy boys who dared to block the road in front of Muni Yuan in the capital city had some background and following, when the two of them left, that person was not there either. Following him to stop him, Xing Xiuyan felt much more at ease.

This capital city is no better than Suzhou City. In Suzhou, the prefect is like heaven, but in the capital city, a fourth-grade prefect is not worth mentioning at all. It can be said that the clans are as numerous as dogs, and the fourth-grade prefects are everywhere.

 Having been in the capital city for so long, Xing Xiuyan has also deeply felt many differences.

When I was in Suzhou, I heard my father talking about the Jia family where my aunt married. It was a dual-state family, which was very prominent for a while. , it is indeed difficult to find one or two in the city of Suzhou, and the eldest daughter of the second master's family even entered the palace and became a noble concubine, and the status of Rongguo Mansion also made her admire a little.

This provincial garden is even more amazing. I heard that it cost four to five million taels of silver. Even though Xing Xiuyan was a simple-minded person and didn't value money, he was still shocked.

But the longer he stayed in Rongguo Mansion, the more he learned about the situation in the capital city. Xing Xiuyan himself was very sensible at an early age and had a clear understanding of the ways of the world, so he gradually saw that the Rongning family wanted to It seems to be very glamorous on the surface, but it has begun to decline on the inside, especially the garden construction has almost emptied the family fortune, but it cannot lose its appearance on the outside, so it is just trying to hold on.

Moreover, the Jia family is not only struggling to make a living, but more importantly, almost no one in the Jia family can truly bear the situation. Even Jia Lian, who can barely be regarded as a figure, has put on a show of wanting to escape and set up his own business, and even has conflicts with The second sister-in-law, who was once regarded as a model in Xing Xiuyan's mind, divorced, which subverted Xing Xiuyan's perception.

The dimness of Rong Ning's second house also made Xing Xiuyan realize that she originally thought that her aunt's house should be the most enviable place, but now it seems that every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite. Even if it is a dual family, It's nothing in the capital city, especially in this family where there is no decent person who can take on the role of the mainstay of the family, so this quality will be greatly reduced.

So even though her words were righteous and unceremonious in her previous words, she was still quite worried in her heart. She was deeply afraid that the other party would insist on clinging to her. If some of these henchmen refused to let go, no matter who was right or wrong, it would still be the same thing. Son, Xing Xiuyan is not willing to cause trouble in the house because of herself.

After seeing that the other party didn't seem to come to stop and entangle her, she felt relieved and hurriedly pulled Miaoyu away.

It's just that she couldn't ask the government to send a carriage when she came out, so she had to walk all the way. This trip took more than half an hour before she returned to Rongguo Mansion.

Fortunately, Miaoyu was used to walking outside with Master Jingyuan, so she could bear it, but the walk still made the two of them dripping with sweat.

 (End of this chapter)