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 it is right.
It was a huge pressure for both of them.
The eldest brother, King Shou, was supported by the imperial concubine Xu, who now had the advantage of ruling the Sixth Palace. He was also 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 world's disapproval and include her in his imperial palace.
Logically speaking, Emperor Yonglong was not allowed to do anything private while serving his duties, and he was later punished by Emperor Yuanxi for this.
This concubine Mei was extremely favored by Emperor Yonglong at that time. It was also in the past few years that Emperor Yonglong began to devote himself to cultivating his moral character and staying away from women, and this gradually faded away.
"Fourth brother, you said that my father didn't like us intervening in court affairs before. 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
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 bring this up again?
We may not be reprimanded by our father. Are we also dedicated to taking care of our father’s worries? Moreover, government affairs have always been controlled by the six ministries of the cabinet?
Are we just co-ordinators?
Just studying, and?
You can also use this to test your father's thoughts." Zhang Ji pondered and said: "Although the elder brother didn't make any movement some time ago, I guess he was observing the situation?
Maybe there will be action 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, that was three or four years ago?
Neither they nor the other party expected that their father's relatively healthy body would become so bad in just two or three years. Before, they were more worried about their grandfather and the uncle.
My father never denied it.
But now, the confusing situation makes Zhang Qi himself a little confused?
Imperial grandfather and uncle, father?
King Shou, King Lu?
As for his brother, Zhang Qi was a little upset for a while?
He doesn't know who he can trust and who he can rely on?
I don’t know what I should do to best suit the current situation.
Zhang Ji noticed that his brother's expression was changing?
He 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 of them 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 is actually 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 good, what is 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 he 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, which made him even more wary of his fellow 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 officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments, workers, officials and households 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 affairs situation in the border areas is somewhat different. Whether it is the Mongols or the Jurchens, it is very difficult..."
Zhang Qi sighed, "The rest are the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Industry. These two are not bad, but the Ministry of Punishment requires a certain amount of luck. It will be successful 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 there are many things to do in the Ministry of Works, 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 thoughtful, but it's good, at least now the two brothers won't plot against each other.
"Has the second brother ever considered the Metropolitan Procuratorate?" Zhang Ji asked back.
"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 should I go straight to the Hanlin Academy to compose? I am more proud than being ranked second among the first-class Jinshi."
Zhang Qi was deeply convinced by his words.
"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 the dandies who dared to block the road in front of Muni Yuan in the capital city probably had some background and following, but 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 king, but in the capital city, a fourth-grade prefect is not worth mentioning at all. It can be said that there are as many clans as dogs, and four-grade officials are everywhere.
After coming to 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 that my aunt married into. It was a double 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 her.
This provincial garden is even more astonishing. I heard that it cost four to five million taels of silver. Even though Xing Xiuyan was a simple 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's wealth, 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.
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 learn. Even if it is a dual-state 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, fearing 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 always be the same thing.
Son, Xing Xiuyan is not willing to cause trouble in the house because of himself.
After seeing that the other party didn't seem to come to stop and entangle her, she felt relieved and quickly pulled Miaoyu away.
It was just that she couldn't ask for a carriage from the mansion when she came out, so she had to walk all the way. It took more than half an hour to walk back 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.