It is obvious that Chang Yu was unlucky this time. Although he had been mentally prepared, it can be seen that the situation in Prince Lu's house is really difficult to deal with. Although he is still richer than ordinary people, his current living standard is compared to that of ordinary wealthy gentry.
It can be said that the family is completely destitute.
But for a thief like Chang Yu, a thief must make a profit if he can, otherwise he will not be able to afford the meal that his ancestor gave him.
"Your Majesty, everything is full of waste here!" After drinking tea, Chang Yu glanced around and sighed, but Zhu Yihai sighed longer than him: "It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, so she has to rely on the help of noble people."
Chang Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "How could the Emperor not know about the current predicament of the prince? However, with the continuous disasters and wars today, the court has too much time to take care of itself. Although it is intentional, it is not strong enough."
Zhu Yihai nodded: "I don't know, so I never bothered the emperor."
Chang Yu glanced at him and saw that he looked slightly disappointed, and then said: "But now that the war in the north has subsided, it only takes three to five years to recover. In addition, the rebellion in the south looks fierce, but in fact it is just a flashback to the past.
, When the world is in peace, how can the emperor ignore the clan and then make a big donation?"
"At that time, I hope that Eunuch Chang will speak to the emperor about the difficulties of Prince Lu's palace." Zhu Yihai cupped his hands, but thought in his heart, at that time, who knows, it will be the year of the monkey, and it is better to rely on yourself than to rely on the heaven and the earth. Fortunately, the palace has thousands of hectares of fertile land.
, there will be some left over in a few years.
"It is better to rely on yourself than to rely on others," Chang Yu said suddenly, which shocked Zhu Yihai. This eunuch could actually hear his own thoughts.
Chang Yu naturally couldn't hear his voice, so he continued: "Instead of letting others remind him in front of the emperor, it is better to find a way to make the emperor take the initiative to think about him."
Zhu Yihai was startled for a moment and said quickly: "Please give me some advice from Eunuch Chang."
Chang Yu calmly picked up the tea cup and took a sip: "At this time, natural disasters and wars are going on, and the court and the emperor are anxious. If you can provide help at this time, it will be far more appreciated by the emperor than adding icing on the cake afterwards."
Helping someone in times of need? Zhu Yihai understood, and spread his hands with a bitter look on his face: "But Prince Lu's house is poor and useless, so they have the will but are powerless."
"Your Majesty, the lineage of King Lu has been passed down for eleven generations. We don't care about anything else. I just want to ask who among the kings of Lu is the most popular among the emperors?" Chang Yu smiled, and Zhu Yihai fell into deep thought.
After a while: "If we talk about the person who wins the emperor's heart, it must be the first generation prince, oh no, it should be the second generation prince Jing Wang."
Chang Yu nodded. The second-generation prince mentioned by Zhu Yihai was Zhu Zhaohui, Zhu Tan's son, the nephew whom Emperor Yongle loved so much that he even dreamed about it.
"My lord, do you know why the two princes won the emperor's heart?" Chang Yu asked again.
Zhu Yihai was surprised... "Eunuch Chang wants me to learn from the second ancestor and reduce the palace's salary expenses? Is this not the emperor's intention?"
Suddenly, Zhu Yihai began to doubt Chang Yu's purpose of coming. Why did the emperor ask him to visit him? He was here to persuade him to reduce his salary. But he was already as poor as a beggar, so how could he reduce his salary?
Chang Yu shook his head and said seriously: "This is just a small suggestion from our family. Don't let the Emperor's concern be ignored."
Zhu Yihai quickly apologized: "There are many implications for what I said."
Chang Yu then made a suggestion that was even more difficult for Zhu Yihai to accept: salary reduction and rent reduction, and all tenants cultivating the palace's fields would be halved or exempted entirely.
Are you kidding me? I don’t have any money at all. I expect this little bit of land to repay my capital. If the rent is reduced and waived again, the palace will be able to calm down. Although Zhu Yihai did not refuse outright, he shook his head and smiled bitterly.
"Drought and locust plague, the people have lost their harvests and are starving. This is also the biggest burden for the imperial court. If the prince can reduce and waive rent in the fief at this time, it will undoubtedly be a timely help to the emperor. The emperor's gratitude will be rewarded in the future.
"The honor and favor will definitely be no less than that of the two princes and ancestors back then," Chang Yu said from the bottom of his heart.
Zhu Yihai showed a hint of excitement, but Chang Yu struck while the iron was hot: "The palace is now very sparsely populated, and a hundred acres of land is enough to support the family, and the rest can feed thousands of people. This is a great merit."
Seeing Zhu Yihai's silence, Chang Yu decided to add fuel to the fire: "The Ming Dynasty is facing a national crisis. Everything done by the kings of the Ming Dynasty is seen by the emperor. The imperial court like King Fu of Kaifeng appears to be grieving and accommodating. In private, our family has heard the emperor angrily rebuke:
"Death is not a pity!"
Ah! Zhu Yihai couldn't help but exclaimed. Chang Yu continued: "Although the disaster in Prince Lu's mansion two years ago is deplorable, it makes people unable to sympathize. If King An (Zhu Yipai, King of Lu An) could have taken
Even if one penny and one grain of rice were used to support food and motivate the soldiers, it would not be what it is now. Why was it that when the Qing army came to the city, Prince Heng of Qingzhou Prefecture was still safe?"
"This..." Zhu Yihai looked embarrassed.
"Our suggestion is for the good of Prince Lu's Palace inside and out. Reducing rent for two years will not make you poor, but it will make the emperor remember your goodness, and it will also make the people of Yanzhou Prefecture recognize and accept the new Prince Lu's Palace again. This is for you."
Come on, haven't you heard that the people in the city rolled their eyes and said they deserved to end up like this when they mentioned Prince Lu's Mansion?"
"Ah, he, they really said that?" Zhu Yihai looked decadent and extremely frustrated.
Now that I have no power, no money, no influence, and if there is no popular support, there is really no point in being a prince, so I feel more and more what the little eunuch said makes sense.
In a sense, Chang Yu is a liar.
But to a certain extent, when he deceives others about benefits, he also gives the other party some benefits, so it is equivalent to an exchange.
Just like the advice he gave to Zhu Yihai this time, it could indeed win the favor of Emperor Chongzhen and at the same time wash away the impression that the Prince of Lu's Mansion had in the hearts of fellow villagers for being rich and unkind.
Although it did not bring substantial benefits to Chang Yu, it was a huge benefit to the people of Yanzhou Prefecture.
Now that he had done it, he launched a big event with great fanfare and made the Lu Palace famous in one fell swoop. Seeing that Zhu Yihai was persuaded by him, Chang Yu asked him to lobby the wealthy gentry in the city to participate in this activity of reducing rent and waiving rent to benefit the people. In the end,
If things don't work out, we can provide some food relief.
This put Zhu Yihai in a difficult position. To put it bluntly, he was a short-term prince. He did not have much influence among these wealthy gentry. Even if he advocated it, no one would criticize him.
"The more this happens, the more the prince has to do it. This is the time for you to set an example and establish your authority at the same time. Although you have no money or power at the moment, the three words of Prince Lu's Palace are your foundation and your golden signboard. As long as you are in Yanzhou
Those who want to make a living in the government must recognize your brand. As long as the Zhu family falls, they will recognize it!"
Hearing these words, Zhu Yihai's blood suddenly surged with enthusiasm. This little eunuch is right, the Ming Dynasty belongs to my Zhu family. Even if I am poor now, I am still a descendant of the Zhu family and the king of one party!
Indeed, although it is dilapidated now, it is also the best time to establish a prestige image!
At this time, Zhu Yihai felt more and more that Chang Yu was a person. The rumors that he was brave and good at fighting might be a bit unfair, but his knowledge and conversation were extraordinary, and he felt more and more speculative.
Before he knew it, it was almost noon, and Zhu Yihai ordered a banquet to be entertained. The food was very rich. Unexpectedly, the princess came to accompany him. There were only three people at each table. It was a family banquet. Chang Yu and his entourage organized another side banquet.
.
Princess Zhang, the eldest daughter of Zhang Youguang in Jining Prefecture, is beautiful but unlucky.
Historically, when the Qing army broke into Yanzhou City, Zhu Yihai was captured. The Qing army who stabbed him three times but failed to hit him told him that a beautiful and noble woman was captured by the Qing army a few days ago. "He refused to comply."
, died under the wall. What do you think of your wife? You can bury her! "That's Princess Zhang.
It means that if you catch a beautiful woman, what do you want to do with her? If she didn’t jump to the city and died, it’s your woman. If so, you can go and bury her. But you can imagine that a beautiful woman was caught by the Tatars in that situation.
, does it matter if you never do it?
Chang Yu was filled with emotion when he saw Zhang's virtues during the banquet, but Prince Lu and his wife did not notice anything unusual. There was a lot of laughter and chatter during the banquet. The young eunuch's eloquence made him feel that he was late for meeting, and he secretly made a wish to be together in the future.