Chapter 408: Soften to the Unreasonable, Play Rough with the Reasonable

After Zhu Zaiyu offered the first and second auspicious signs, Zhu Yijun's gaze turned to the third auspicious sign. Zhu Zaiyu pulled open the red silk and said, "Addition and subtraction machine."

A wooden box appeared in front of Zhu Yijun. On this wooden box, there were nine wheels from left to right, each engraved with ten numbers from 0 to 9. Zhu Yijun understood the usage of this addition and subtraction machine through Zhu Zaiyu's explanation. Just by turning the wheels, nine-digit addition and subtraction could be realized. If the sum was greater than ten, it would automatically carry over. When calculation was no longer needed, just press the button next to it to realize reset.

Zhu Zaiyu opened the wooden box and displayed the extremely complex gear structure inside. The gears were coated with a layer of fish oil, clearly used to prevent rust and lubricate, and the gears were manufactured extremely precisely. Zhu Yijun clicked his tongue in wonder after seeing it.

The Great Ming had an extremely strong demand for computing power. The Imperial Gridding Academy wanted to make precision maps and needed to perform multiple checks on the data of the triangulation method. The Great Ming Ministry of Revenue and the eunuchs of the inner treasury had to conduct a two-month account audit starting in the 11th month of every year. This kind of account audit was extremely cumbersome. Major maritime trade offices had to conduct extensive statistics on import and export trade. These strong demands for computing power eventually gave birth to the calculation of this addition and subtraction machine of Zhu Zaiyu.

"Compared to the abacus, the accounts that used to require eight people to calculate can now be completed by one person, and in the process of calculation, there is no need to think; just let the machinery run." Zhu Zaiyu simply explained the origin of this thing.

The addition and subtraction machine can be seen as a fully mechanized abacus. In the whole process, there is no need for any thinking; just input the numbers.

"This thing is very good." Zhu Yijun studied this addition and subtraction machine seriously, closed the lid, and tried using it several times. This machinery could reduce the probability of errors.

Zhu Yijun rewarded Zhu Zaiyu and the Imperial Gridding Academy, especially the three-horsepower steam engine, which received the Emperor's high evaluation. Zhu Yijun told Zhu Zaiyu not to worry about the rationing of the steam engine and to research with peace of mind.

Zhu Zaiyu thanked him and left. Zhu Yiliao left happily after receiving two models and an addition and subtraction machine.

In the early morning of the 10th month, the wind of late autumn, carrying bone-chilling cold, swept through the streets and alleys of the Great Ming. Court officials began to enter the Imperial Palace from the Left Shun Gate.

The Great Ming court discussion is a joint discussion by the Nine Ministers. These Nine Ministers are the six Ministers of the Ministries, the Chief Censor of the Censorate, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and the Minister of the Office of Transmission. As time passed, the functions of the Office of Transmission were gradually incorporated into the Grand Secretariat, and the Minister of Transmission became a Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat.

After Zhang Juzheng took control of the government in the 6th year of Longqing, the content of the court discussion was mainly the appointment and removal of the six Ministers, Left and Right Vice Ministers, and Provincial Governors. Matters that the various ministries could not decide themselves were taken to the Zhao Wenhua Hall for discussion. This is the court discussion.

The personnel for the court discussions had undergone an expansion after the first year of Wanli, with the addition of the Commanders of the Five Chief Military Commissions. This was an ancestral established law; during the Hongwu, Yongle, and Xuande years, the Chief Commanders of the Five Chief Military Commissions were all required to deeply participate in government affairs and discussions. The first Duke of England, Zhang Fu, as a minister entrusted with the orphan emperor, participated deeply in state decision-making during the early years of the Zhengtong reign.

But with the general trend of exalting literature and suppressing the military, Zhang Fu and Yang Shiqi gradually lost in the political struggle. In the 5th year of Zhengtong, the fact that several military nobles represented by Zhang Fu no longer attended court served as a sign, declaring that military nobles no longer participated in state affairs.

Starting from the 1st year of Wanli, the military was strengthened. From the Regional Commander of the Capital Battalion and the Great General above the military nobles entering the Zhao Wenhua Hall for court discussion, this ancestral law returned.

If compared with the Tang Dynasty, the Three Departments and Six Ministries lacked two departments: the Secretariat and the Chancellery. That is to say, in the Great Ming's top-level political system design, there was a lack of a substantial "Head of the Hundred Officials," the Zhang Yuanfu.

Above the Nine Ministers, there was no superior. This actually formed a multi-headed government office of "having ministers but no dukes," and the decision-making power was completely concentrated in the hands of the Emperor.

The Senior Grand Secretary was not the Head of the Hundred Officials. Only Zhang Juzheng, through the authority of the Grand Tutor, usurped or shared part of the imperial power, realizing the actual Head of the Hundred Officials.

Even with Zhang Juzheng's power, he was still not a Zhang Yuanfu, but a Senior Grand Secretary and Grand Tutor, because a Zhang Yuanfu could open a government office, establish his own government office, set up his own teeth flag, recruit his own staff, freely appoint and dismiss subordinate officials, and even formulate partial laws and policies.

Zhang Juzheng was not a Zhang Yuanfu. His "All-Chu Hostel" was not a government office, and his disciples were not arranged by Zhang Juzheng wherever he wanted. If they made a mistake, they couldn't be decided by the All-Chu Hostel itself.

At this time, in the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall, a group of court officials were waiting for the morning court. On weekdays, while waiting for the morning court, the court officials would not say a word, closing their eyes to rest. But today was different from the past. The difference was that the Great Ming Emperor was late.

Since the 1st year of Wanli, His Majesty had been late once, left early zero times, and had zero absences from court discussions.

"Senior Grand Secretary, has something happened?" Wang Chonggu opened his eyes, always feeling that His Majesty had been late for too long today—a full quarter of an hour had passed, and His Majesty's honor guard had not yet arrived.

Wang Chonggu was asking Zhang Juzheng by name, because only Zhang Juzheng, under the special permission of imperial power, could have secret dealings with the palace. The dealings between Xu Jue and You Qi were very clear to the court officials; only Zhang Juzheng could know the news in the palace for sure.

"I don't know. There shouldn't be any major events." Zhang Juzheng had not received any news.

A sense of worry vaguely rose among the court officials. Words like "assassination of the emperor by a palace maid," "stabbing the king and killing the driver," and "palace burned by fire" echoed in the minds of the court officials. These were things that had truly happened in the Great Ming. His Majesty no longer even lived in the Western Garden and had moved to the Lecture Hall's detached palace; what other strange things could happen?

Similarly, the court officials were also vaguely worried. His Majesty was already very ruthless. If another major event happened, he might turn into a truly ruthless monster. Whether this was a blessing or a curse for the Great Ming was not yet known.

Just as the court officials were guessing, Feng Bao walked in, looking joyous, and said, "Congratulate the Great Ming, congratulate His Majesty. This morning, Consort Zhou gave birth to a princess. His Majesty bestowed the name Zhu Xuanying. Everyone, share the joy."

"Hoo." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that some bad thing had happened, but a happy event.

Zhang Juzheng led the officials to bow to the detached palace and said in unison, "We subjects congratulate the Great Ming, congratulate His Majesty!"

"Then is the court discussion to be exempted today?" Zhang Juzheng did not sit down and prepare to leave. A child had been born in the palace—such a major event, the court discussion could be slightly delayed. The Sichuan weighing fee case had just been handled, and even Wang Qian was still on his way back. There were no major events to disturb His Majesty.

"His Majesty said to delay it by one hour. His Majesty will come over in a while," Feng Bao shook his head and said.

The group of officials were all stunned, and then they all looked at Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng said slightly stiffly, "Trouble the Great Eunuch to report. We subjects obey the edict."

A child was born in the palace—such a major event, yet the Emperor still wanted to come to court? Zhang Juzheng, is your education a bit too forceful?

Wan Shihe had originally been watching his nose and nose watching his heart, dozing off, but suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Recently, these scholar-officials have all been saying that His Majesty is too ruthless. Yesterday, I submitted a volume of *Overseas Barbarian State Records*, and His Majesty's reply made me shocked and worried."

Wan Shihe's meaning was very clear. Combining his own partial experience, His Majesty was indeed excessively ruthless.

Wan Shihe didn't even explain what His Majesty had replied that made him so shocked and worried.

"Ruthlessness is better than ignorance of worldly affairs." Tan Lun looked at Wan Shihe. He didn't feel that His Majesty had done anything wrong in these years.

Wang Guoguang looked at Tan Lun, sighed, and said, "Since the Tax Audit Office began auditing taxes, there are still arrears of money and grain taxes in Jiangnan. Unlike the past, this time it is not fraudulent registration, but using physical goods to replace silver money. Everyone knows that for these physical goods, there are many articles. The inferior gentry colluded with corrupt officials, using inferior goods to replace tax payments. It seems that they have paid, but there is still a shortage. But there are many types of physical goods, which are difficult to calculate. The Tax Audit Office is having a headache dealing with it."

"Yesterday, His Majesty replied to the Ministry of Revenue's memorial: 'For all gentry who owe silver, regardless of the amount, all shall be memorialized to strip them of their titles, and the tax-clearing and dismissal shall not be recorded for three generations.'"

Facing the urging of the Tax Audit Office, the wealthy families thought of a method. The inferior gentry and corrupt officials colluded together, using goods with lower value in Jiangnan, such as porcelain and cotton cloth—goods that were hard to sell—to offset tax payments. These physical goods were inconvenient to sell and difficult to calculate in value, making the Tax Audit Office have a headache.

The Tax Audit Office only cared about auditing taxes. On the account books, it was indeed enough, but in reality, it was another evasion.

The Ministry of Revenue told His Majesty about this matter. His Majesty brought out the "Tax-Clearing Law," but any gentry or official involved would have their titles stripped and dismissed, and they would not be allowed to take the imperial examination for three generations. This directly took the lives of these powerful clans. Three generations without titles—where would there be powerful clans?

"In the four prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Yingtian, the number of people whose titles are to be stripped will exceed 13,000." Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang said.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wan Shihe, Wang Guoguang, and Ma Ziqiang, and said quite seriously, "I don't think there is anything inappropriate. According to the floating slip I attached, they should have been ransacked. His Majesty only stripped their titles. The arrears in Jiangnan have not been for one or five years, not ten or fifty years, but for over a hundred years, all in arrears."

"His Majesty's Tax Audit Room and then the Tax Audit Office—the Tax Audit Office's urging tickets have to be issued three times before pursuing the arrears. His Majesty gave so many opportunities, yet they still want to find ways. They have already lost their sense of submission. Not loyal to the ruler, nor loyal to the country—ransacking their homes is the right principle. In these years, the national situation has been slightly peaceful, and His Majesty has been a bit too lenient."

The Yang family of Xindu and their lackeys and other criminals had not yet been beheaded and displayed to the public. After this investigation and supplementation, at least several hundred heads would fall. You, Zhang Juzheng, actually say that His Majesty has a "lenient heart"?

"I know that our court officials, the six ministries, the Censorate, and even the various local government offices all have relatives and friends in Nanya. But if this tax cannot be collected, the court will not be a court. Everything requires silver and grain. Why are you a public official, and he is an external official? Between public and private, everyone should weigh it themselves." Zhang Juzheng's tone was already a bit severe, even carrying a bit of reprimand.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Ma Ziqiang and said, "These 13,000 people in the four prefectures of Su, Song, Chang, and Ying must be handled before the New Year this year. Do not delay. This group of inferior gentry is always like this: soften to the unreasonable, play rough with the reasonable. The court indeed needs to be reasonable, but when it should be unreasonable, it must also be unreasonable."

"Yes." Ma Ziqiang was helpless. He indeed had relatives and friends in Nanya. He just felt that stripping the titles of over 10,000 people at once was really a bit too much. Killing the chicken to warn the monkey—this is killing the monkey as well.

History is always the victory of ruthlessness over stupidity.

Tan Lun said quite approvingly, "It's just a group of base scholars who don't even want to see the three words 'theory of contradictions.' Stripping them is stripping them; it's not a big deal. It's hard to find a three-legged toad in the Great Ming, but two-legged scholars are everywhere on the street. Since they want to be officials, they get sick when they see the three words 'theory of contradictions.' Keeping them is of no benefit to the country. If they make trouble again, send them to Java to educate the indigenous people."

"Reasonable." Wang Chonggu also expressed his thoughts and recognized Tan Lun's statement.

As an official in one place, if you can't even distinguish between contradictions, major contradictions, and minor contradictions, what kind of official are you? Go home and plant sweet potatoes.

This discussion before the court discussion seemed to be discussing His Majesty's method of stripping titles to rectify taxes, but in fact, it was discussing whether His Majesty was too ruthless. The leaders of the three parties were all elders of the previous dynasty, people who were in charge during the end of the Jiajing period and the Longqing period. Whoever is in charge knows how expensive firewood and rice are. Poverty is truly feared. His Majesty is not afraid of being scolded, and the people below are indeed easier to work with.

Without using ruthless means, the inferior gentry will only constantly show their lower limits. Under this feudal imperial system with strict rites and teachings for thousands of years, will the gentry who refuse to pay even the imperial grain really settle down and herd the people, becoming a supplement to the Great Ming's weak ruling power? Obviously not.

So the result of this discussion before the court was that His Majesty was indeed ruthless, but ruthlessness is better than stupidity.

Zhu Yijun was an hour late. Consort Zhou was the biggest one in the palace. She gave birth to a child at 26 and did not encounter any dystocia. Zhu Yijun went to the Hu'e Building to take a look. It was 6 catties and 3 taels, mother and daughter were safe. Zhu Yijun stayed in Consort Zhou's Hu'e Building for more than half an hour before coming to the Zhao Wenhua Hall and starting the daily court discussion.

"This Yang family of Xindu is truly deserving of death. This Yang Youren hanging himself can be considered letting him off lightly." Zhu Yijun looked at the case file in his hand and sighed. He had already used the greatest malice to speculate on human evil, but he was still angered by the likes of Yang Youren.

This group of base scholars and inferior gentry, aren't they afraid of playing themselves to death?

In the spring of the 1st year of Wanli, there was a poor harvest in Sichuan, and a group of displaced people poured into Xindu to beg for food. This group of displaced people was only 50 or 60 people. This Yang Youren was only 17 years old at the time. He had people throw a bag of grain into the middle of the lake and let these displaced people swim to the middle of the lake to fish out the grain. If they fished it out, it would belong to them.

Yang Youren was just taking pleasure, watching the fun, and feeling it was fun.

The displaced people were already hungry and cold; where would they have the strength to swim in the lake? But if they didn't swim, they would starve to death. In the repeated choices, these displaced people had to jump into the lake. Seven people drowned, and after going ashore, another 14 died of illness. The remaining people could be considered to have survived.

The head of the Yang family of Xindu, Yang Ningren, heard about it and was furious. He locked Yang Youren up to study, and then set up a porridge shed, which was the only reason a civil uprising was not brewed. If he didn't set up a porridge shed, the starving displaced people wouldn't need many—just two or three thousand people could dismantle their Yang family completely and eat them as meat.

This kind of thing happened from time to time. The displaced people were hungry and had no way out. Attacking the prefecture and county was a common occurrence.

It was originally a string stretched tight. Yang Youren playing like this would completely snap that string.

"When will Censor Wang return to the capital?" Zhu Yijun asked about Wang Qian's itinerary. This wealthy young master had finished his errand outside but didn't seem to intend to return to the capital in a hurry.

Wang Chonggu bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Censor Wang will return to the capital after the Jimin Canal in Dujiangyan begins construction, about the 4th month of next spring."

"I know." Zhu Yijun nodded, which could be considered permission. Wang Qian wanted to wait until the Jimin Canal in Dujiangyan started construction before returning. Then the credit for the Jimin Canal would be Wang Qian's, would be their Jin Party's, not the Zhang Party's. The Jin Party could not intervene in Sichuan, but the silver was spent, and the credit had to belong to the Jin Party.

The court discussion began. Regarding the Dujiangyan Jimin Canal affair, the Ministry of Works was very attentive and even sent a Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works with two secretaries to go.

Under Wang Chonggu's leadership, the main policy of the Jin Party was eight characters: "Use work as relief, settle displaced people."

These eight characters had been resolutely executed since Wang Chonggu entered the cabinet. If it weren't for these eight characters, the Jin Party would now have ashes. That was Zhu Yijun's lenient heart.

It was late autumn in the 10th month. The cold wind blew from outside the passes into the capital and also blew toward Nanya. In the four prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Yingtian, there was wailing everywhere. Countless people told each other the news, just because the Great Ming Emperor issued an imperial edict to strip the titles of over 10,000 scholars and *juren* in these four prefectures. From then on, they were just Confucian scholars wearing long robes, no longer scholar-officials with titles who didn't kneel when seeing officials.

The cold wind blew through the streets and alleys of Suzhou Prefecture, making it look even more lonely.

By the Stone Lion Bridge, in the Zhang family mansion of Suzhou, it was very lively today, because the method of using physical goods to avoid taxes was thought of and used by the Zhang family. In just one year, it spread to the other three prefectures. Today, the Zhang family was so lively; clearly, these Jiangnan wealthy families were gathered together to discuss what to do.

The Zhang family had gained a lot in the wind of opening the seas. Their family had 12 three-masted sandwich ships, 124 two-masted ocean-covering ships, and routes from Ningbo Maritime Trade Office to Ryukyu and then to Japan. They had 17 iron workshops, 12 book workshops, 7 clothing workshops, 6 velvet workshops, 4 leather box workshops, and 2 wood machine workshops. In these years, they had made a fortune.

Using physical goods to offset taxes—their family used ironware to offset taxes. The court needed ironware very much, so it was not an inconvenient item.

The six families who came to the Zhang family were also more or less the same. They were all powerful clans who had made a lot of silver in the wind of opening the seas. They were still very dissatisfied with the court's land surveying, but with the thick profit of opening the seas, they pinched their noses and accepted it. In the two prefectures of Su and Song, they were becoming more and more prosperous in these years.

The head of the Zhang family was named Zhang Gaori. He was a *juren* of the 4th year of Wanli. In the 5th year of Wanli, he entered the capital to participate in the metropolitan examination but failed. He originally intended to study at the Imperial Academy to impact the metropolitan examination of the 8th year of Wanli. Before he entered the Imperial Academy, the bad news of his father's illness and death came, so he had to return to his hometown to inherit the family property, which could be considered abandoning Confucianism for business.

Zhang Gaori had his title stripped. The Emperor's disposal was so strict that it triggered widespread dissatisfaction among the Jiangnan scholar-officials.

"The court is so harsh. We have already paid taxes in full. Why is it so difficult for us? Isn't it just... isn't it just using physical goods to offset? Since it is allowed, why is there such a severe punishment! It is simply unreasonable!" Pan Jingwen of the Pan family of Physician slammed the table, his face flushed, and said angrily.

Wu Zhongcheng of the Dongting Merchant Group immediately echoed, "That's right. The court wants to survey land, we followed. The court wants to return land, we cooperated. The court wants us to pay taxes, we paid. Now suddenly, on the grounds of 'no sense of submission,' our titles are stripped. What kind of logic is this? There must be an explanation!"

The Dongting Merchant Group was in Wengxiang, Dong Shan Town, Suzhou. It could be considered the largest merchant group in Suzhou, with extremely formidable strength. This Wu Zhongcheng could be considered the merchant leader of the merchant group. Of course, this merchant leader could not be mentioned in the same breath as Sun Kehong in terms of energy. Sun Kehong could mobilize five-masted ocean-crossing B-type merchant ships, while Wu Zhongcheng only had three-masted ships.

The Great Ming Emperor was always scolded, and there was also this aspect. Five-masted ocean-crossing ships were sold to the Mughals and the Western Red-Haired Barbarians, but they wouldn't sell them to the Great Ming merchants. Isn't this clearly "giving to foreign friends, not giving to domestic slaves"? The wealthy families of the Great Ming could only indirectly hold them by purchasing ship certificates.

"It is simply bullying people too much! Do they really think that as long as there is a knife, they can take whatever they want? Even a knife scraping bone doesn't scrape like this!"

"Today we are gathered together to think of a way. We must think of a way! If we continue to retreat today, there will only be more bullying!"

"Lord Zhang, say something!"

Everyone looked at Zhang Gaori. Zhang Gaori sat in the center, holding a teacup, thinking quite seriously. He thought for a while and said, "Why don't we forget it? The court only stripped our titles and didn't continue to pursue us. It's almost enough. We are already in the wrong. If we make trouble again, isn't it giving the court an excuse to go crazy?"

"That lackey Luo Bingliang is holding a belly of fire, waiting for us to make trouble, and then kick the door and ransack our homes."

Zhang Gaori said honestly, he was a bit scared. Making a fortune was good, paying taxes was good, it was originally making trouble out of nothing.

"Are we just going to endure this?" Pan Jingwen said with an expression of disbelief.

"I received news that the Master in the court attached a floating slip asking His Majesty to ransack our homes, but His Majesty didn't allow it, only stripping our titles. If we make trouble again, His Majesty's bit of lenient heart will be worn away by us. These six families of ours, you, me, him, will all die. Our family's men will be sent to Luzon and Java, and our women will be sent to the Teaching Bureau, to be bullied by others." Zhang Gaori sighed and said helplessly, "The Yang family of Xindu, they have all become criminals and entered the capital."

Zhang Gaori did not choose to hide it. He did receive news. This time it was His Majesty's momentary benevolence. If they didn't know what was good for them, then if they really followed Zhang Juzheng's method, their lives would be gone.

"Jiangling Duke (Zhang Juzheng), is he crazy?!" Wu Zhongcheng was stunned. He had no one in the court and didn't know about these things, but Zhang Gaori had been in contact with the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Lu Guangzu, in previous years. Following the imperial edict to Suzhou, there was also a warning message from Lu Guangzu.

Zhang Juzheng didn't avoid people at all. The things he said clearly were extremely severe warnings.

Zhang Gaori sighed and said, "Jiangling Duke hasn't been crazy for a day or two. He has always been very crazy."

If Zhang Juzheng wasn't crazy, why would he engage in New Policies? The Great Ming perishing—what did that have to do with Zhang Juzheng?

"This matter starts with Lord Zhang. Lord Zhang must come up with an idea." Pan Jingwen clearly didn't want to let it go, forcing Zhang Gaori to continue leading everyone to fight, not allowing the court to take whatever it wanted.

Zhang Gaori looked at everyone and sighed heavily, "Everyone, in all fairness, the court has not treated us badly. It is true that they took away our land, but didn't they also give us ship certificates, allowing us to go to sea? Even if you are not willing to take risks at sea, you can rent the ship certificates to others. The profit is not small."

"In the 5th year of Longqing, Suzhou Prefecture had a total of 340,000 *ding* (taxable adults) and 1.23 million people. Last year, it had 410,000 *ding* and over 1.7 million people. Flower-patterned cloth, red copper, white copper, white iron, decorative brocade boxes, woodenware, etc. —the number of merchant households rose from 12,000 to 25,000 last year. Everyone, let's be content."

"You are willing to do whatever you want, but I don't have the heart for it. Let's do business peacefully. Why do we have to touch the court's bad luck?"

"Let's go!" Pan Jingwen's expression changed drastically when he heard Zhang Gaori say this, and he took people away from the Zhang mansion.

In just seven days, the business in Zhang Gaori's family immediately began to get worse. The coal, firewood, iron materials for the iron workshops, paper and ink for the book workshops, cloth for the clothing workshops, leather for the leather box workshops, and wood for the wood machines—all were cut off. The merchant firms that had been cooperating seamlessly all stopped supplying, which hit Zhang Gaori's family business hard.

While Zhang Gaori was overwhelmed, his son was playing on a painted pleasure boat on Taihu Lake when the boat capsized and sank into the lake. There was no corpse left.

This was not the end. The things Zhang's firm wanted were either plundered by roving bandits or temporarily raised in price, and his workshops were stagnant, leading to failure to deliver goods on time, resulting in heavy losses. In just half a month, Zhang Gaori looked like he had aged more than ten years, and he was seriously ill and bedridden.

This illness of Zhang Gaori came like a mountain falling. In three or five days, he was already at the point of being beyond cure. By his bed were two children, one 12 years old and one 8 years old, and a beautiful woman. She was the legal wife he married when he was in high spirits, coming from the Cheng family of Suzhou. This great disaster also brought the Cheng family down.

"You take my letters and go to Songjiang Prefecture overnight to defect to Sun Kehong. I have a deep friendship with Sun, the merchant leader. When he was bullied by Xu Jie, I helped him. I hope he can protect the three of you safely. Take the official road; they dare not move on the official road and post road."

"The ship contracts are in this box. When the time comes, give them all to Sun Kehong, which can be considered a bargaining chip for asking him to protect you."

"My son, tell your grandson, you must pass the imperial examination and kill this group of idiots! Kill them!" Zhang Gaori roared with all his might as if he were having a flash of light before death, and then his strength was exhausted, his eyes widened, and his breath had already broken.

"Husband? Husband! Dad!" The woman and the two children wailed. There was no time to grieve. The three of them secretly left the mansion and headed straight for Songjiang Prefecture overnight.

This time the Zhang family was unlucky, and there was also the reason for an internal traitor. Zhang Gaori's younger brother, Zhang Gaozhan, was that internal traitor, so the woman and children didn't even dare to collect the corpse, only letting Zhang Gaori's corpse lie on the bed. As long as it was dawn and the news of Zhang Gaori's death spread, it would be too late to leave.

The woman and children sat in the carriage, galloping all the way from the official road and post road toward Songjiang Prefecture. Unexpectedly, they had just left Suzhou Prefecture when they met Sun Kehong's carriage.

Sun Kehong heard about the Zhang family's affair and immediately started inquiring. Once he heard the reason, he knew it was bad and immediately prepared. He came personally, but the speed of the Suzhou Zhang family's collapse was too fast. He hadn't had time to help, and Zhang Gaori was already ill. When he arrived at the Suzhou border, he saw the widow and children.

"Sister-in-law, no need for ceremony. Follow me back to the Zhang family." Sun Kehong had bad legs and didn't help the three people kneeling on the ground, clutching the armrest of the wheelchair, his anger soaring to the sky.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 409 =====