Chapter 115: City foxes and social rats, like a raging fire

The first year of Wanli, June 22nd, Great Heat.

This is the hottest solar term, the so-called dog days.

Huguang is both flooded and scorching, the situation like a pot of boiling porridge.

The capital is a bit different; rain has fallen, but there is no flood, perhaps all flowing into the underground undercurrents, leaving only pure heat on the surface.

Fortunately, during the early morning court in the Wenhua Hall, the inner officials will put some ice cubes to lower the temperature in the hall, so the court officials can feel better—this is

Wang Chonggu's son Wang Qian, Yang Bo, and Wang Chonggu's son-in-law Feng Lun, along with Zhang Siwei's in-law Han Zhan and others, plus Zhang Siwei's own son, Zhang Jiazheng.

They were all good relatives who studied together.

As for which of them were there to appease Zhang Siwei and ease family relations, that is a matter of opinion.

Feng Lun closed the *Gao Wenduan Memorials* in his hands and picked up a copy of the *Illustrated Guide to Imperial Sayings* to flip through it casually.

For the imperial examinations, besides the classics, one also has to write policy essays.

One must read through the works of current powerful ministers so that when the examiners are chosen, one can cater to their preferences and inclinations.

However, the *Illustrated Guide to Imperial Sayings* is, after all, an introductory text that lists the good and bad deeds of past emperors, and more than half of it is taken up by illustrations.

There was really no need to study it carefully, so Feng Lun only gave it a rough look.

After a long while, he slowly closed it and said with some emotion: "The Senior Grand Secretary is truly fond of Emperor Taizong of Tang; out of eighty-one virtuous deeds, Emperor Taizong alone accounts for thirteen."

As he said this, he had already decided that for this year's policy essay, he must give Emperor Taizong a place when citing classics and precedents.

Han Zhan immediately took up the conversation: "After all, he is an emperor for the ages; he deserves that weight."

As he spoke, he also pulled a copy of the *Illustrated Guide to Imperial Sayings* from the pile of books and handed it to his eight-year-old nephew, Han Kuang, who had come with him—Han Zhan's elder brother, Han Ji, was a student of Gao Gong and was demoted out of the capital during last year's turmoil; Han Zhan had been taking care of the family members left in the capital.

Although this nephew was only eight years old, he was truly intelligent, and he always brought him along when he went out to study, so that he could be influenced by what he saw and heard.

Of course, Han Zhan naturally did not know that his nephew, Han Kuang, would historically become the Chief Grand Secretary of the current dynasty and a veteran of the Donglin Party.

At this time, it was perfectly normal for him to have the traits of a child prodigy.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Siwei's younger brother, Zhang Siduan, shook his head and said: "An emperor for the ages? In my view, compared to the current Emperor, Emperor Taizong of Tang falls far short."

As soon as these words fell, the expressions of the few changed.

Is it appropriate to flatter the Emperor in private like this, as if we were all outsiders?

In the past, Zhang Siduan had not infrequently criticized the Emperor.

Wang Chonggu's legitimate son, Wang Qian, who understood this cousin's temperament better, asked curiously: "Cousin, how do you explain this?"

Zhang Siduan nodded as if it were a matter of course: "Compared to the current Emperor, Emperor Taizong of Tang had ten failures, while the current Emperor has ten victories."

The crowd cast curious glances one after another.

Zhang Siduan held the book in his hand, shaking his head: "Emperor Taizong of Tang chased the deer in the Central Plains and spent half his life in displacement before gaining the world; whereas the current Emperor was born with the imperial throne, with orderly succession, responding to Heaven and following fate—this is the first victory of the Dao."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone immediately reacted—it was indeed the same old flavor!

So he was just making fun of the Emperor in a roundabout way; that was fine.

One established the world, the other inherited the throne; the difference in stature was immediately obvious.

Having started, Zhang Siduan no longer held back: "Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered Jieli to dance and humiliated him, which lacked stature; look at the current Emperor, rewarding the barbarian Khan and enfeoffing the Duoyan Guard, making foreign captives feel at home—this is the second victory of benevolence."

The crowd smiled knowingly.

"Emperor Taizong of Tang took the wife of the Prince of Qi, disregarding human ethics, which is despised by people; the current Emperor keeps to the West Garden alone and serves the Empress Dowager Chen filially—this is the third victory of virtue."

This was a rumor that had only recently emerged.

Last year, the Emperor coerced Empress Dowager Chen and kept her in the West Garden, where even noble ladies rarely saw her.

It could not be ruled out that he saw her beauty and plumpness and was secretly doing some things in the West Garden that disregarded human ethics.

"Emperor Taizong of Tang had people like Wei Zheng at court who dared to criticize the monarch to his face, lawless and unruly; the current Emperor's channels of speech are full of ministers like Li Shidi and Ge Shouli who empathize with the sacred heart—this is the fourth victory of governance."

Zhang Siduan became more and more spirited as he spoke: "Emperor Taizong of Tang was straightforward with his subordinates and did not know how to be flexible; the current Emperor bends to accommodate his ministers and respects the virtuous and the talented—this..."

Halfway through his sentence, he saw that several of his classmates had silently turned their faces away, and he could not help but feel strange.

Just as he was puzzled, he saw his nephew, Zhang Jiazheng, signaling to him behind his back.

Zhang Siduan immediately realized something was wrong.

He turned his head with difficulty, and sure enough, he saw two people standing outside the door.

One was the Vice Minister of Rites, Ma Ziqiang, and the other was none other than his own elder brother, Zhang Siwei, who was currently staring at him with an ugly expression.

Seeing this, Feng Lun, Han Zhan, and the others immediately stood up and said with awkward smiles: "Haha, today's harvest has been quite fruitful, and we still need to go back and organize our thoughts, so let's stop here."

After saying this, they bowed to Zhang and Ma standing outside the door and hurried away.

Wang Chonggu's only son, Wang Qian, walked at the end, but after bowing, he did not leave directly.

Instead, he gathered his tone and showed a familiar demeanor toward Zhang Siwei: "Cousin, tomorrow my mother is holding a family banquet at the residence and specifically asked me to invite you."

Ever since Wang Chonggu entered the Grand Secretariat, the relationship between the two families had begun to stiffen.

Wang Chonggu had taken advantage of his nephew and naturally tried every possible way to appease him.

Unfortunately, Zhang Siwei was still angry and did not give him any face.

He glanced at his cousin and shook his head with an unkind expression: "My uncle and I hold high positions, and we should avoid suspicion in private, so I won't go."

Zhang Siwei instructed his son: "Jiazheng, go on my behalf tomorrow and visit your great-uncle, so they don't say our family doesn't value family affection."

Zhang Jiazheng responded with a bitter face.

His father was getting on in years, and his temper had been getting worse lately.

After Zhang Siwei finished speaking, he led Ma Ziqiang and turned to leave.

Leaving Wang Qian standing there with a stiff expression.

Avoid suspicion?

You are in-laws with Ma Ziqiang—Zhang Siwei's daughter married Ma Ziqiang's son, Ma Zao.

Now the two of them are walking swaggeringly right in front of me, and you still say avoid suspicion!?

This is deliberately making me look bad!

Wang Qian could not help but spit at Zhang Siwei in his heart—don't look at who has entered the Grand Secretariat now, still putting on airs here!

On the surface, he naturally still smiled bitterly at Zhang Siduan and Zhang Jiazheng, looking helpless, and asked them to be sure to attend the banquet tomorrow.

Zhang Siduan had a good relationship with this cousin, but he also knew why the two families had been unhappy recently.

In fact, almost all the relatives who came today were here to ease relations with Zhang Siwei.

Han Zhan's elder brother had a close relationship with Zhang Siwei.

Feng Lun likely represented the intentions of Yang Bo's faction.

If it had really been just Wang Qian coming alone, he might not even have been able to enter the residence's gate.

Zhang Siduan, as a younger brother, had tried to mediate several times before, but his elder brother had lost his temper each time.

Now he no longer dared to touch this unlucky spot.

He could only send Wang Qian away, caught in the middle.

And Zhang Siwei, who had deliberately put on a long face and ruined the mood, went into the study with Ma Ziqiang to be alone before his expression softened.

He spoke with resentment, almost aggrieved: "Ti Qian, you saw it, right?"

"When my uncle first snatched my seat in the Grand Secretariat, not many people went to persuade him for me."

"Now that I've suffered a loss, they come to the residence every few days to persuade me to let the matter rest!"

"It's simply outrageous!"

It would be one thing if only these relatives were persuading him at home.

When he went to work at the Ministry of Rites, there were the Right Censor-in-Chief Huo Ji, the Minister of War Shi Maohua, and even the junior from the Hanlin Academy, Wang Jiaping, who went to the Ministry of Rites every day to persuade him to prioritize the big picture, saying that it made no difference whether he or his uncle entered the Grand Secretariat anyway.

It was simply bullying!

This was the first time Zhang Siwei had been persuaded to prioritize the big picture!

Ma Ziqiang was also helpless.

If he weren't afraid of ruining the friendship between the two, he would also want to persuade Zhang Siwei—although they were from the same hometown, no one would yield when it came to entering the Grand Secretariat.

When he, Ma Ziqiang, had only passed the third rank of the imperial examination, hadn't he also run around and managed to get selected as a Shujishi?

Everyone knew what they were preparing for, didn't they?

If he, Ma Ziqiang, were sitting in Wang Chonggu's position, he wouldn't yield either.

However, Zhang Siwei was angry, so he obviously couldn't say these things.

Ma Ziqiang could only choose to comply: "It is indeed a grievance for Ziwei."

He sighed and groaned, following Zhang Siwei's emotions, and then shifted the focus without a trace: "This still has to be blamed on the central government; how could they go back on their word."

"Since Ziwei was already acting on behalf of Mr. Yang in the Grand Secretariat, how could they make another choice."

It was better for Zhang Siwei to blame the Emperor than his own family; that wouldn't destroy internal unity.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Siwei immediately calmed down.

The annoyance on his face vanished completely in an instant.

He was silent for a long while, then sighed and chanted: "Not involving the Chang'an road, how would one know the difficulty of traveling. Three gates choke the earth's axis, nine turns enter the clouds."

"Crossing the water with that oar, frost expedition just hugging the saddle. How can one risk the hall, envying the roc's wings in the wind."

Ma Ziqiang listened intently.

He subconsciously clapped his hands and laughed, praising: "Good poem!"

This poem, whether in its use of classics and precedents or its imagery and style, was an excellent work, which could be called expressing one's own feelings and achieving deep understanding.

The hardships and setbacks, as well as the depressed mood, jumped off the paper.

It was clearly Zhang Siwei's recent frustration in his official career, expressed from his feelings.

Zhang Siwei shook his head and picked up Ma Ziqiang's previous words: "The Emperor bears the world on his shoulders and looks at the nine provinces; who enters or leaves the Grand Secretariat is not something you or I can comment on."

Setbacks make people grow.

After his uncle entered the capital, Zhang Siwei finally suffered the only setback of his life.

From being disrespectful to the Emperor during the daily lectures earlier, to now, even in private, he was cautious in his words and deeds.

Ma Ziqiang was still chewing on Zhang Siwei's poem, and besides the frustration in it, he also tasted the firm ambition to ascend to the Grand Secretariat.

He shook his head secretly in his heart; with this ambition, it was no wonder he risked angering the Emperor to block the reform of the imperial clan.

He deliberated for a while and brought the topic back to the right track, mentioning without a trace the proposal that the Ministry of Rites had blocked today: "The Emperor's sacred heart is decisive, so naturally it is not something we should comment on."

"However... I'm afraid there are treacherous sycophants at court who are used to hearing pleasant words, making the Emperor unable to hear remonstrances."

"Especially today's matter of the imperial clan reform, which did not go as the Emperor wished; I'm afraid it's inevitable that villains will whisper slanders."

Ma Ziqiang was somewhat dissatisfied; after all, in such matters, one might offend the Emperor if things went wrong.

At that time, he had followed Zhang Siwei for the sake of unity, so naturally, he had to ask for an explanation now.

Zhang Siwei naturally understood the meaning behind his words.

If it were in the past, he might have prevaricated a bit.

But now, Zhang Siwei had learned from the Emperor what attitude to take toward his partisans.

He looked at Ma Ziqiang, his tone extremely sincere: "Ti Qian, there is no need to worry; the Emperor is benevolent, virtuous, and wise, and will not be confused by slanders."

"Since the Emperor ascended the throne, he has known people and assigned them to positions appropriately; whether it was Xu Jie, Gao Gong, or my uncle, he has used them without suspicion."

Xu Jie and Gao Gong were both fine, so what was there to fear?

He had also found the way to understand what kind of temperament the Emperor had.

Why was his uncle able to enter the Grand Secretariat? Wasn't it because the Emperor needed to use Wang Chonggu to reorganize the military preparations?

As long as there was a use, the Emperor would not let emotions dictate his actions or be "bewitched by villains."

If he, Zhang Siwei, didn't make a fuss occasionally, the Emperor would probably think he was insignificant.

You must know that he was the chief manager of the Jin merchants! Not Wang Chonggu!

Zhang Siwei's father and uncle were both wealthy merchants, and behind his mother's clan were wealthy merchants like Shen Jiang.

Behind his wife's clan were also wealthy merchants—his father-in-law Wang En and brother-in-law Wang Hui.

Besides relatives by blood, there were relatives by marriage.

His second brother Zhang Siduan married the daughter of the merchant Li Ji, and his fifth brother first married the daughter of the merchant Wang Yin, and later married the daughter of the merchant Fan Shikui.

As for the rest of his friends, classmates, and childhood friends, they were too numerous to count.

The son of the wealthy merchant Han Bo, and Gao Gong's student Han Ji, "studied and worked with him, diligent from morning till night."

The giant merchant Xu Jing was his childhood friend, "Since I was a student, I have traveled with Young Master (Xu) Jing."

Zhang Siwei was the chief manager pushed out by dozens of merchant firms, and even if Wang Chonggu entered the Grand Secretariat, he could not replace him!

The salt from Xiechi and the silk from Lu'an Prefecture all had to pass through his hands.

The coal, rice, and tea of the entire Sanjin region were all under his coordination and operation.

The iron taxes produced by the five iron-smelting workshops—Fuguo, Fengguo, Datong, Runguo, and Yiguo—were divided by Zhang Siwei every year before it was the imperial court's turn to collect them.

The commerce of the entire Sanjin region was Zhang Siwei's backyard!

It could be said that without his nod, the mutual market with Altan Khan would not even think of opening!

With his stature, what big deal was it to pull and tug with the Emperor a little?

Look at Shen Shixing.

Ever since Minister Shen took charge of the Ministry of Personnel, he had promoted people in a hazy way several times—the Emperor demoted people to places where birds don't lay eggs, but before they even left, the Ministry of Personnel immediately promoted them again, mostly to Nanzhili to avoid the limelight, without changing their ranks.

Hazy promotion had always been a sharp weapon for civil officials to deal with the Emperor's groundless demotions, and it was also a common means to show generosity and buy favor with the masses.

Zhang Juzheng had spoken to Shen Shixing several times, but he had fooled him each time.

The Emperor later couldn't help but complain and came forward personally, asking Shen Shixing to restrain himself a little.

Shen Shixing promised everything, but didn't he just do the same thing when he turned around?

Since Shen Shixing had this stature by relying on the Nanzhili hometown faction, he, Zhang Siwei, as the leader of the Jin faction, naturally should have it too.

Only when he made a fuss would the Emperor remember his stature and appease him slightly.

Only when he stomped his feet from time to time would the officials of the Jin faction carefully look at who the earth dragon was.

Ma Ziqiang was noncommittal.

Who didn't have a time when they tried to guess the Emperor's heart.

On the surface, the Emperor was quite precocious and did not easily let his likes and dislikes affect state affairs.

But the Emperor was the Emperor after all; if one had the illusion that the Emperor would definitely follow the rules, one would suffer sooner or later.

Not everyone could be compared to Gao Gong and Xu Jie.

Moreover, the matter in Huguang had already caused the Emperor to be furious for quite a while.

Now the proposal to reform the imperial clan had been blocked by the Ministry of Rites; it was hard to guarantee that it wouldn't be secretly kept in mind, calculating how to settle the score.

Ma Ziqiang insisted on his own opinion: "I'm just afraid that repeated discussions will delay the important business in Huguang."

He spoke implicitly, which was actually telling Zhang Siwei to stop while he was ahead.

Zhang Siwei hummed, which counted as agreeing.

It was clear that he could still listen to Ma Ziqiang's persuasion.

Immediately, he couldn't help but smile and said an aside: "In my opinion, the matter in Huguang probably won't be able to wrap up so quickly."

Ma Ziqiang cast a curious look.

Zhang Siwei shook his head and said nothing.

He had merchant firms in his hands and had sunk deeper, so he had more clues to deduce the situation.

However, it had nothing to do with him.

It would be best if it lasted longer; there were many problems with the imperial clan, and the status of the Ministry of Rites would rise with the tide, wouldn't it?

Huguang Provincial Administration Commission, Changsha Prefecture.

As a major prefecture in Huguang, Changsha was the essence of the land, attracting many wealthy families from the surrounding areas to set up houses in the prefecture city.

Wealthy families and gentry also had different foundations.

Those with poor foundations could only move their whole families and become glamorous people above others in the prefecture city.

Those with deep foundations had houses in the city and manors and fortified villages outside the city.

Unfortunately, they had indeed encountered a disaster star recently.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard had plowed through them.

Today, Zhu Shitai had just captured a manor and fortified village and killed many people—other wealthy families were one thing and could still argue a bit, but such wealthy families who acted as virtuous gentry on one side and occasionally moonlighted as bandits were always killed on the spot.

Zhu Shitai casually kicked away the corpse blocking his feet and rubbed his boots on the ground twice to grind off the bloodstains on the soles of his feet.

He walked around the manor again to check if there were any famous fish that had slipped through the net.

"My lord, there is still a live one inside!"

A company commander dragged a half-grown boy out of the room.

Zhu Shitai waved his hand: "Strangle him."

Without armor, there was naturally no need to see blood.

He was just feeling self-satisfied with his benevolence when he suddenly remembered something.

He turned his head and ordered: "He might have been discovered on purpose to protect his younger brother or older brother or someone like that; you search the place just now carefully again."

When out and about, one must look like one is training.

There were many such plots in storybooks, so he had to be careful.

His father had risked his life to get this errand for him, and he had no other concerns; he just wanted to carry out the errand thoroughly.

At the very least, he couldn't let the old man lecture him one last time when he passed away.

After another half a day, letting the Embroidered Uniform Guard each loot some property into their bosoms—wasn't that what the capital masters came out for?

After finishing, the crowd left the fortified village, regrouped, and prepared to head back.

Zhu Shitai was just about to mount his horse.

When he saw an Embroidered Uniform Guard coming toward him.

He looked closely and saw it was his father's personal guard.

Zhu Shitai shouted loudly with some unease: "What is it!?"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was urgent, but he did not lose his composure.

Only when he got close did he pant: "Young Master! The Duke says the situation in Huguang has changed, and he wants you to go back as soon as possible!"

Zhu Shitai breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it wasn't that his father was seriously ill and had died suddenly.

He mounted his horse and asked casually: "Didn't he tell you what happened?"

The Embroidered Uniform Guard leaned close to Zhu Shitai's saddle and whispered: "The Prince of Tai Ning, who manages the Jing fief, feared the imperial envoy and burned himself to death for his crimes!"

"Now, whether it is the officialdom or the imperial clan in Huguang, they are all shaken by this!"

"The Min Prince's Mansion is restless, the Ji Prince's Mansion is panicked and at a loss..."

"The Duke is worried that they will lose their senses and do something unwise!"

(End of chapter)