Xiao Jing is already giving instructions on how to react after meeting Pingjiang Bo Chen Rui, such as putting on airs, not giving Chen Rui a good look, giving him authority, etc...
Zhang Zhou was also thinking.
The last time I asked for a bribe, it was only vague. I just took the imperial decree in advance and ran to Wang Yue and Zhu Feng's house. This time I told them directly and explicitly that they could accept it as they wanted. They didn't have to hand it over, and the more the better.
Sounds good.
But Zhang Zhou was also wondering, could this be the emperor digging a hole for himself?
"Mr. Zhang, did you hear that?"
Seeing that Zhang Zhou didn't respond for a long time, Xiao Jing couldn't help but ask.
Zhang Zhou smiled and said: "Understood, probably to let Uncle Ping Jiang know who is in charge."
"Yes, that's what I mean." Xiao Jing smiled.
Asking for bribes this time was nothing for him, but Chen Rui would definitely give him some benefits, and he was happy to give Chen Rui "some guidance."
Then Xiao Jing reminded him again: "You are welcome to Uncle Jiang Ping. His family has a big business. Just dig some out of him and it will last a long time. Your Majesty's intention is not to let him bleed more. He doesn't know how painful it is."
.”
"Really? There are no consequences, right?" Zhang Zhou asked with a smile.
Xiao Jing was surprised and said: "How can there be any consequences of His Majesty's order? You can take it as you please, others will never know."
Zhang Zhou thought to himself, I don’t know now, but the emperor is quite happy, thinking that if someone else helps him pay the reward, the love can still be remembered on him, which is a kind of "borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha".
But this was during the honeymoon period of the monarch and his ministers. If the emperor later had an opinion about Zhang Zhou and felt that there was nothing wrong with him, the gifts he received now would become his life-saving talisman.
Li Guang is a negative example.
"Collecting property sounds good, but it is too ostentatious and easy to be criticized. There are no novel gifts? I heard that these noble families like to raise some singers and dancers from the south of the Yangtze River, so I can't give you something like this.
Come?"
Zhang Zhou immediately began to be picky about the types of gifts and the way to give them.
"ah?"
Xiao Jing was startled.
This demand... is indeed different from that of us eunuchs. It seems that Zhang Banxian does not need money.
So are you always so stingy?
Xiao Jing seemed to understand that Zhang Zhou did not want to accept the gift. He thought for a while, nodded and said: "If the singer and dancer are used as gifts, it can only be regarded as a personal gift, not a bribe. Besides, bribery is
If you want to talk about favoritism and abolishing the public affairs, and you are not between the government and the public, how can you abolish the public affairs?"
Zhang Zhou shook his head and waved his hands: "If you don't do anything when accepting gifts, then I can't accept it."
"Haha." Xiao Jing said with a smile, "It's just to give him a channel so that he can have the opportunity to get your advice and go to Liaodong to have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. Even if this matter is done, he will definitely be happy to give it to you."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Zhou thought to himself, is there anyone else who would be particularly happy to give a gift?
Do you think everyone is Wang Weining?
That guy really likes to curry favor with people, and he spends all his money to give gifts. He is simply a model of sacrificing himself to light up others.
Xiao Jing continued to smile: "Uncle Ping Jiang has been having a hard time recently. After he returned to the capital, others called him 'Chen Erbai'."
"Chen Erbai? Isn't it Chen Liangjiu?" Zhang Zhou asked with a smile.
Maybe someone deliberately messed with Chen Rui. Anyway, this reputation has spread in the capital recently. Now everyone knows that Chen Rui likes to drink cold wine because he is afraid of fire.
Xiao Jing said: "This time at Pianguan, Marquis Weining asked him to run away. He led his troops and ran out for two hundred miles in one day and one night, and then ran back two hundred miles in one day and one night... From then on, Chen Erbai became his foreigner.
Number."
"This...that should be called Chen Sibai." Zhang Zhou sighed.
"Haha, it's all the same, all the same, but now I think he led the troops to run fast, but instead of fighting the Tatars, he led the troops to escape. He himself said that he was rushing to Yansui to defend against the little Tatar prince.
If there was no partiality to this matter, others might still believe it, but who will believe it now?"
Xiao Jing was also teasing Chen Rui.
Zhang Zhou asked: "Just because he has a bad reputation, your Majesty is helping him?"
Xiao Jing put away his scornful expression and approached Zhang Zhou and said, "Actually, he asked to come to our house through the relationship between Jinyiwei and our family. With the help of Dongchang's 'sitting record' visit, our family reported to His Majesty
Reported it."
The station recorder is the agent of Dongchang, who is responsible for sending and receiving messages regularly at various government offices and city gates. Chen Rui, as a Wu Xun who was laid off from the northwest due to circumstances, must have been "taken care of" by Dongchang after returning to the capital.
Only then did Zhang Zhou realize that it was Xiao Jing who was guiding Chen Rui.
This shows that Chen Rui has given Xiao Jing benefits in advance.
…
…
Zhang Zhou and Xiao Jing left the palace gate and had not yet waited for the carriage.
A stench came from the face, Zhang Zhou covered his nose and said: "What's going on?"
Xiao Jing sighed: "Mr. Zhang, don't you know that the canals in the city have been blocked recently? Since last year, the drought has been severe in the north. After the spring of this year, there was not even a single rain or snow. Recently, even the water in the west is running low.
After drying up, the situation is not good everywhere in the city, especially the areas with water canals near the palace."
"oh."
Zhang Zhou nodded.
The north of the Ming Dynasty suffered from drought for four consecutive years starting from the eleventh year of Hongzhi. The drought was severe, especially in the eleventh and thirteenth years of Hongzhi. It was not until the fifteenth year of Hongzhi that the situation improved. In the following years, local droughts continued.
Just by reading "Records of Xiaozong", we know that in the eleventh year of Hongzhi, many places in the north were exempted from taxes for that year.
The abnormal climate is actually a precursor to the coming of the Little Ice Age. The current drought is in sharp contrast to the two relatively large Yellow River floods in the second and sixth years of Hongzhi.
It was from the eleventh year of Hongzhi that foreign invasions in the northern border areas began to become serious.
To put it bluntly, the tribes on the grassland are also under pressure to survive, so they continue to raid borders in order to give the tribe a chance to survive.
If you have hair, who wants to be bald?
Xiao Jing said: "Recently, the Ministry of Industry and the Shuntian Mansion have made a petition, requesting your Majesty to mobilize laborers to dredge the canals in the city. It would be great if it rains in a few days. Sir, our family needs to go to Pingjiang Bo's Mansion to inform him first.
You might as well go back and wait. We probably won't be traveling together by then. It's up to you to decide what to say. Take your leave."
"please."
Everyone got on the carriage and Zhang Zhou went home.
…
…
Zhang Zhou took a carriage home.
Wang Mingshan walked with him. Wang Mingshan was sitting opposite the carriage, but he called Wang Mingshan to come and sit next to him.
"Um?"
As soon as Wang Mingshan sat down, Zhang Zhou's big hand came over and grabbed her waist.
For this cute girl with a body but no brains, she really didn't know what Zhang Zhou was going to do, but she didn't push him away.
One thing she knows.
She is already a member of the Zhang family, so she should call Zhang Zhou "Master". Zhang Zhou took her to see her father and uncle, and her elders had to kowtow to Zhang Zhou. More importantly...she was married, although she herself
I don’t know what it is like to get married.
However, Han Qing had told her a lot of things recently, some of which made her look hot after hearing some of them.
For example, now.
She also had some strange feelings in her heart.
"I've been busy recently and haven't taught you personally. How much have you learned from Qing'er?" Zhang Zhou asked.
Wang Mingshan shook her head, roughly speaking, I didn't learn much.
I don't even know what I need to learn.
"After I pass the exam at the senior level, I want to pass the exam at the junior level. Do you know what that means?" Zhang Zhou asked again.
As expected, Wang Mingshan continued to shake her head.
Zhang Zhou thought for a while and asked this silly girl to learn in advance. It is better to use an indoctrination method and let her practice it first. After the practice is completed, she will naturally understand. Otherwise, with her brain, it seems that she cannot understand what has not happened.
What exactly is it.
This willow waist...
"Sir, we've arrived." Sun Shangqi said as he drove the car in front.
Zhang Zhou suddenly felt that it was not a good thing that his home was close to the palace gate. He could not even get acquainted with his confidante. When he returned home, Jiang Pingyu and Han Qing were there, which always caused many inconveniences.
It seems that only in the carriage, with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, is it convenient to enhance feelings.
…
…
Zhang Zhou returned home.
He asked Xia Zhi to say hello to the people in the inner courtyard and tell them that he had guests to receive. Then he asked Wang Mingshan to sit on his lap and continue to be the shameless official Zhang.
However, it didn't take long before Chen Rui came to visit in person.
"Uncle Pingjiang is here. It's hard to welcome him from afar." Zhang Zhou didn't know what to say when faced with such a rough old man.
Chen Rui is not young anymore.
Historically, Chen Rui died in the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, that is, the following year. There is no record of how he died. It would be good for a person like Chen Rui to leave his name in history.
However, one thing Zhang Zhou knew was that Chen Rui "died with hatred" because in the 13th year of Hongzhi, he went to the northwest with Xu Jin, then the Minister of War, to resist the invasion of the Fire Siege. As a result, he was too timid to move forward, which resulted in a delay in fighting.
He was dismissed from his post and went home to live idle. He died not long after.
It is not an exaggeration to say that he died of grief and anger.
Chen Rui clasped his fists, knelt down on one knee and said: "Chen Rui, a humble official, has met Mr. Zhang."
"Uncle Ping Jiang, why are you so polite? Get up and stand up."
Chen Rui was helped up by Zhang Zhouxiang, but a child who came in with him handed him a small wooden box.
Just when Zhang Zhou thought that there should be some gold and silver jewelry inside, and it was a gift to him, he saw Chen Rui opening the wooden box, and there was actually a portable charcoal stove and an iron wine pot inside.
"This is?"
Zhang Zhou looked at it curiously.
Chen Rui smiled and said: "I have stopped drinking cold wine recently. Even when I go out, I have to keep the wine warm at all times. I occasionally take a few sips. I feel so heroic."
"..."
Zhang Zhou wanted to hit someone after hearing this.
You came to me empty-handed to express your feelings, and why are you still showing your political attitude to me?
I don’t have to accept the gift, but you can’t not give it!
You are like this, Xiao Jing actually recommends it to you? You give gifts to Xiao Jing, but not to me?
Mr. Chen?
Zhang Zhou nodded and said: "Uncle Ping Jiang is really a good drinker. I am not good at it. He will get drunk after just a few sips."
When Chen Rui heard this, his eyes lit up, as if he had thought of some very special idea.
Zhang Zhou knew it was definitely not a good idea.
"There happens to be a batch of good wine here in my humble position. I would like to invite Mr. Zhang to drink with me. Come on, please go back to the house and bring the good wine over. I want to get drunk with Mr. Zhang before I stop."
