The new tool man Zhang Guowei mentioned by Shen Shu was actually considered a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty in history, a native of Dongyang, Jinhua.
At the end of the thirteenth year and the beginning of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, he was still hanging out with the six tribes in Nanjing.
But more than a year later in history, Chen Xinjia, the Minister of War, and a group of people secretly sought peace with the Qing army for the emperor after Hong Chengchou's defeat at Songshan. As a result, they were attacked by Yan Guan, causing Chongzhen to kill Chen Xinjia to thank Yan Guan.
Then it was Zhang Guowei's turn to be appointed at the critical moment, and was transferred from Nanjing to Beijing to take over Chen Xinjia's position as Minister of the Ministry of War - by that time, in fact, the Minister of the Ministry of War was already a very hot potato.
No one with a little sense of self-preservation would be willing to hold an official position where the emperor would ask him to shirk his responsibilities within a year and a half at most. Zhang Guowei still dared to go, which shows his loyalty.
(Note: There is a saying that if Chongzhen had not executed Chen Xinjia because the secret peace talks were leaked, Chen Xinjia, who dared to take matters into his own hands, might have dared to persuade the emperor to abandon the capital and flee to Nanjing two years later.
But Chen Xinjia was killed, and the last minister who dared to take the blame was gone, and the rest were even more frightened. From this perspective, Chongzhen's killing of Chen Xinjia was a bit of a disguised suicide, which cut off his own way of escaping south in the future. )
However, historically, Zhang Guowei later took over as Minister of War, but he did not work for long. When the Qing troops entered the Pass in April of the 16th year of Chongzhen, all the Eighth Army of North Zhili were defeated. Zhang Guowei took responsibility for this and was demoted and sent to prison. Returning to Nanjing, he supervised the taxation and grain payment of Nanzhili. It was not until the fall of King Lu's regime in the Southern Ming Dynasty that Zhang Guowei threw himself into a lake and died for his country.
It is impossible for Shen Shuren to know all these details by reading history books in his previous life. After all, there were so many loyal ministers in the late Ming Dynasty. Shen Shuren's understanding of him was limited to "This man dared to take over Chen Xinjia's class. In the end, he committed suicide and died for his country." On the level of ".
In today's world, there are not many allies we can use.
If you have some integrity, are willing to go to the capital to accept orders in times of crisis, and can still manage some money, food, and construction work, then you are considered to be among the top few percent of civil servants, and you really have no conditions to pick and choose.
Therefore, this opportunity to rise up more than a year in advance and go to Beijing to become a high official should be advantageous to him.
…
After listening to my son's explanation of how to pull together one faction and fight against another to mediate and implement the Lijin reform after the new year.
Shen Tingyang felt a stone fall in his heart, and Mrs. Xu was even more satisfied, knowing that her husband would probably be able to return to Nanjing to serve as an official in the future, so she no longer had to worry about staying in Beijing, and she would be with you like a tiger.
She can then feel at ease that she will not follow her husband back to Beijing after the New Year, but will take care of the housework in her hometown in Suzhou and take care of her pregnant "daughter-in-law" Dong Xiaowan (who has no real identity).
Scholars all over the world seek official positions in order to gain power and take life and death, but the Shen family does not really care about real power.
All they want is a noble status, and it is best to have a leisurely job, as long as they can protect the family business, and don't take too many additional risks.
Who made the Shen family's wealth enough for them to become officials? They never expected to make money from being officials.
Such a special situation makes Nanjing Liubu's yamen, which outsiders think is a pension for the losers in political battles, very popular in the eyes of the Shen family.
In the next few days, the family lived an ordinary life.
With the sound of firecrackers marking the end of the year, the chapter of history has officially turned to the fourteenth year of Chongzhen.
On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the family didn't go anywhere. They just had a New Year's Eve dinner together and listened to the opera troupe they raised at home.
The second day of the Lunar New Year was the day to visit relatives in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Shen Shuren had not yet married or engaged, so he continued to stay at home and not move around to avoid being misunderstood.
Dong Xiaowan was not in good health, so he had been resting there. Recently, Chen Yuanyuan was the only one left to accompany Shen Shuren every day.
It just so happened that during the New Year, Chen Yuanyuan also came to the inconvenient days of the month, and Shen Shuren happened to be idle and had nothing to do. It was time for him to indulge in wine and sex every day, so he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
He had no choice but to call all the personal maids who were following him to play dominoes to pass the time.
Chen Yuanyuan felt guilty, thinking that when she returned to Huangzhou after the New Year, she would be the only one to accompany the young master. She took the opportunity to test and said: "Master, Xiaowan is not going back to Huangzhou this year, why don't you bring another sister with you.
You are the fifth-rank magistrate of the imperial court at a young age. You must not lose the dignity of your family. You only take me with you. Do you still have to hold it in until I am inconvenient? Outsiders also laugh at the jealousy of the slave family. Alas, when did the young master marry? Wife, I don’t need to worry about this anymore.”
She is very clear about her position. She is just a ransomed maid so far. So in her heart, she is really looking forward to Shen Shuren getting married soon, and she is not jealous at all——
This is not because Chen Yuanyuan is magnanimous, but because she knows that this is a win-win situation. If the young master has a wife, she can be successfully promoted to a concubine. Women in the Ming Dynasty did not really want many things in their hearts.
Chen Shuren had his own plan for this, so he could only comfort you: "I'm sorry for you, I am sure that I will be promoted quickly in the past two years. Every time the marriage proposal is delayed for half a year, I may be promoted to another rank.
When you are in a humble position, the woman you can marry may not be noble and virtuous, so why not wait and see more. I am a grown man, and I am afraid that I will not be able to get a wife if I miss the age! It is not a good idea to spoil you alone during this period. What?"
Chen Yuanyuan felt so moved and guilty that she had no choice but to think of a different way to help Shen Shuren solve the problem for a few days, using some special means that could serve her husband even when he was physically inconvenient.
…
After more than ten days of indulging in wine and sex, the Lantern Festival is approaching.
These days, Chen Yuanyuan has become somewhat of a hostess. She can at least help the young master pack the gifts.
When I go to Nanjing, there are many people to win over and give gifts. It will be very cumbersome to welcome and send off officials. Shen Shuren himself doesn’t want to worry about what level of officials should send how many gifts in order to handle big things. These things have been done in previous years. The mistress of the house is worried.
Fortunately, during the two years that Chen Yuanyuan was working as a maiden and singer, she had seen a lot of exchanges of courtesy in officialdom. Now she was caught by the old lady Xu to make a fool of herself, and she learned some unspoken rules of giving gifts. Finally, she wasted her time in the battle.
However, after this incident, she became more and more worried and felt a lot of pressure.
On the day of the Lantern Festival, the Shen family had wine, singing and admiring the moon as usual.
We also hosted a banquet for many local officials in Suzhou, which was a way of saying goodbye to our local official friends and accepting the practices of others.
Shen Shu people have been poor and rich for a long time, and they are still a little unaccustomed. When they saw officials such as Suzhou Magistrate Zhang Xuezeng, Hedao Yamen Cao Zhende and other officials coming to visit, they still bowed humbly according to last year's custom.
But those people are also smart people, how dare they take advantage of him.
Even though Zhang Xuezeng was a first-class prefect of a high-ranking government, he was in the fourth rank. When drinking tea with Chen Shuren, he only dared to call him "foolish brother and wise brother". After all, everyone is a prefect, regardless of age or rank. level.
Cao Zhende, who used to be Shen Shuren's direct boss, now has no choice but to show official courtesy in front of Shen Shuren.
Seventeen months ago, Shen Shuren was still a small eighth-level official under him. Fourteen months ago, he was promoted to a seventh-level Treasury envoy under him.
But in the last fourteen months, Shen Shuren's average surge increased by one level every five months, and he suddenly overtook Cao Zhende.
During the New Year greetings, Cao Zhende desperately looked for an opportunity to explain to Shen Shuren that the previous grievances between the two families were all instigated by Zhu Dadian. He was also under Zhu Dadian's control at the time and could not refuse.
Now that he has switched to Shi Kefa and Shi Futai, he will definitely listen to the Shen family's orders for local affairs in the future.
What can Chen Shuren do? He reaches out and doesn't hit the smiling man. Besides, Cao Zhende is just Zhu Dadian's tool, and he won't get angry with the tool.
Therefore, the most he can do is say a few words similar to "I still like your original unruly look, please recover" to downplay the other person's nervousness.
After having had enough of returning home in fine clothes, Chen Shuren took his beautiful lady and set sail for Nanjing to carry out the subsequent activities.
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