Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 718: The Loyal and Honest Gentleman Duke Qin
Although he did not want to be seen as a patient, Academician Kong was not sure whether Qin Guogong Zhang Chuan's words were spoken casually or purely sarcastic. Therefore, he, who was always competitive, could not help but subconsciously fight back.
"Everyone is subject to misfortunes at any time. I was just pissed off by someone, so my heart qi was not flowing smoothly, and my meridians were blocked, so I felt a little dizzy. It's nothing serious. If I became so weak that I couldn't speak, that would be a huge joke!"
"I see." As he spoke, Zhang Chuan had already followed the second young master Kong into the house. He was not like the Duke of Zhao and the Duke of Chu, who were still handsome and strong despite their old age, nor was he as rude and uncultured as the Marquis of Nanyang and the Marquis of Huaiqing, nor was he like the Marquis of Weinan, Zhang Kang, who was born in a foreign race and was unruly. At first glance, he looked like an ordinary and elegant civil servant in his official robes.
So, he walked slowly to the bedside, raised his hands and bowed to Grand Secretary Kong in a very polite manner, and then looked at Grand Secretary Kong carefully, and said with a smile: "Seeing that Lord Kong is so energetic, I feel relieved. Otherwise, with so many bills in the cabinet, Lord Wu and Lord Zhang would not be able to finish them even if they were exhausted."
Duke of Qin Zhang Chuan was not like some people outside who only called Wu Ge Lao as Ge Lao and called the other two as Grand Secretaries. He treated them all equally. After all, he was one of the few people who knew the subtlety of the title, because this difference in addressing cabinet ministers was invented by his late father, the previous Duke of Qin Zhang Yun.
Although the cabinet ministers were all university scholars, his father told people that university scholars were brave and hardworking, willing to take on responsibilities, and unwilling to be puppets of the emperor even though they were prime ministers; cabinet ministers kept their mouths shut about everything, tried to figure out the emperor's intentions, and were happy to be yes-men. I don't know who spread this rumor, and in the past 20 years, others have forgotten the instigator, but he could not forget it.
Therefore, when Mr. Kong heard Zhang Chuan's simple words, he felt that it highlighted his own importance, and his face brightened up.
However, the joy of Academician Kong did not last long, because Zhang Chuan sat down on the brocade cushion in front of the bed that Master Kong Jiu had hurriedly moved, and first said some greetings that were often said when visiting a patient, and then went straight to the point: "After the morning court, I had just left the palace and returned to Shuntian Prefecture, and people from the palace chased me. I met the emperor and then I learned something."
He briefly told Zhu Ying about what happened to him in the imperial manor last night. Seeing that Grand Secretary Kong's eyebrows were wrinkled into a big lump, he sighed and said, "The rioters were instigated to besiege the imperial manor and shouted slogans to support the eldest prince. This matter is not a trivial matter. Since it is under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, after visiting Grand Secretary Kong, I plan to ask for permission to personally go and appease them."
At this moment, Academician Kong was horrified. He no longer cared about the little matter of Zhu Tingfang coming to his house to squeeze him today, nor did he care about the disagreement between his cousin and his wife over money and personal relationships, because he suddenly realized that if he resigned at this point, he would never be able to wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
Others would not say that he resigned because he was angry with Zhu Tingfang, but would say that he resigned because he felt guilty about the eldest prince's rebellion!
Therefore, when he saw Qin Guogong Zhang Chuan stand up to say goodbye, Kong Daxueshi finally pulled himself together, threw off the quilt and got out of bed, and actually stopped Zhang Chuan! He didn't care about the astonished eyes of his wife and cousin, nor did he care about Zhang Chuan's dumbfounded look, and directly grabbed Zhang Chuan's hand.
"Duke Qin, Zhu Tingfang came to my house this morning to provoke me. Of course, I was irritated by him, but I have always taken good care of my health, so there is nothing serious. Now that the villagers in Huairou have been instigated by the treacherous people to cause chaos, I am willing to personally request to go and appease them!" Seeing Zhang Chuan's unbelievable expression, Academician Kong smiled at him sincerely.
"After all, I am a minister of the cabinet. Even if ordinary villagers don't know me, they at least know my reputation. Even if the eldest prince has some other plans, he might have some illusions when he sees me, and that would paralyze him."
Duke Zhang Chuan of Qin, who looked extremely shocked, breathed a sigh of relief in his heart at this moment.
If he went directly to the Kong family and conveyed the emperor's order, asking Grand Secretary Kong to go and pacify the rioters and bring back the eldest prince, even if Grand Secretary Kong agreed verbally, it would be hard to say whether he was really willing to do so. But now he made it clear that he was going and explained the pros and cons of the matter, and sure enough, Grand Secretary Kong volunteered.
This duke, who was known as a follower of the rules when he was in Shuntian Prefecture, and who was also known as the most honest and noble duke in his previous posts, shook his head like a rattle: "No, no! This is originally a matter under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture. I, as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, cannot escape the blame. How can I let Lord Kong run around while he is sick? I really feel too sorry!"
Lord Kong had no suspicion that Zhang Chuan was deliberately deceiving him - if someone had this skill, would he always act as that taciturn duke, whose presence was even less prominent than that of his son Zhang Chen, who once caused chaos in the capital?
As for the old rules that the nobles do not take charge of the actual government affairs... There was no such so-called ancestral system during the reign of Emperor Taizu. It was originally added by the civil officials in order to put layers of shackles on the nobles who had military merits. However, there were many incidents in the succession of the throne in this dynasty, especially from Emperor Yingzong to Emperor Ruizong, who simply did not buy into this so-called ancestral system.
The current emperor ascended the throne when he was young, but the empress dowager was flexible behind the scenes, and the emperor was even more creative from time to time after he took power. Now that his power is consolidated, he often shouts that the ancestral system of Taizu is the real ancestral system, so Zhu Jing and Zhang Chuan successively took up real positions, and the voices of opposition were loud thunder but little rain. Zhu Jing had no choice, and as for Zhang Chuan, he was famous for being honest and low-key!
At this time, Academician Kong only thought that Zhang Chuan was wholeheartedly fulfilling his duties as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, so he could only say earnestly: "Duke Qin, of course I know that you are impartial, but when Wang Datou did the same thing, he took the initiative to take the responsibility and was brave enough to bear it. But if it were you, others might say that you are ambitious and want to take it a step further!"
"Unlike me, I have already reached the top. Now that something like this has happened, when I think about how I insisted on establishing the eldest son as the heir, I feel that I was really blind and guilty. I feel so guilty that I can't bear it any more."
When Master Kong Jiu and Gu heard that Grand Secretary Kong readily admitted what happened in the past, they were horrified. In the officialdom, the result of sincerely admitting mistakes is definitely not to write off the mistakes, but to attract political enemies to pursue them relentlessly, so no one would admit mistakes unless they had no choice. However, Grand Secretary Kong actually admitted it at this time!
Scholar Kong didn't care about how his cousin and his wife felt at the moment. After all, this was his own home. Not to mention that Zhang Chuan had very few officials to interact with, he even had a reputation as a loner in the circle of nobles. He was not afraid of people spreading the word. Even if Zhang Chuan really spread his words so that everyone knew, what could he do?
The Third Prince had never been expected of anyone at the beginning. Except for Zhang Shou, who was extremely lucky, no one else was much better than him. Who would have bet on the Third Prince at that time? That was simply prophecy!
On the contrary, there were many people who advocated the establishment of the eldest son as the heir like him. If someone attacked him for this matter, it would be strange if these people could sit still. They would have to speak for him even if they had to bite the bullet!
When Zhang Chuan saw that Grand Secretary Kong was speaking to him from the bottom of his heart, he frowned and finally hesitated and said reluctantly, "Then... I will go and report to the emperor on behalf of Grand Secretary Kong and give it a try?"
Finally, Mr. Kong was overjoyed when he heard Zhang Chuan's words. He nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll leave it to Duke Qin! My illness is insignificant. I just hope I can do my best to help."
When Zhang Chuan left the gifts he brought with him and said goodbye, Master Kong Jiu, who had been trying his best to restrain himself from speaking, finally couldn't help but said, "Brother, what you just said, if Zhang Chuan reports it to the emperor, wouldn't the emperor think that you and the eldest prince..."
"What happened between me and the eldest prince? Do you think that if I don't tell him, the emperor will forget what I said in the past about establishing the eldest son as the heir? At a time like this, instead of hoping that others will forget what I said and did, it's better to think about how to do something practical to make up for it!"
Scholar Kong interrupted Master Kong Jiu impatiently, then gave him a cold look and said, "I will settle accounts with you sooner or later for what you did before. Now you go back to your Taichang Temple! Of course, if I really go to Huairou, if anything happens, I won't be able to settle accounts with you in the future. You take care of yourself."
At this moment, Master Kong Jiu's pale face finally showed some color, but his expression was even more horrified. After he staggered away, Gu, who also understood what he said, couldn't help but feel sad: "Master, if it was really that dangerous, why did you go there in person?"
"Because if I don't go, I will have to return home sadly... Zhu Tingfang personally led people to block the door, and then came to provoke me, and even claimed to impeach me. Wasn't he waiting for that moment? Or do you want to go back to your hometown with your children in misery? Even if something goes wrong, you can return home with the coffin, and at least the Kong family will be polite to you, an orphan and a widow."
"Even if Dalang did something stupid, it can be suppressed because his father died in the king's business!"
Gu was so frightened that her face completely changed color. She murmured to herself, "How could it be so..."
"Originally it wouldn't have been that serious, but with that idiot Lao Jiu and Da Lang making such a fuss, even if I could have stayed out of it, now I have no choice but to throw my old face into this mess!"
After choking his wife back with a cold face, Academician Kong realized that Gu was his wife of many years, and his expression softened a little, but he still warned her solemnly: "I know it's not easy for you to manage the family, but times are different now. I'm a tall tree that attracts wind, and I'm hated by people. You'd better discipline your children. As for relatives..."
"If you can't do anything about it, just tell me. At worst, I'll be accused of sacrificing my relatives for the sake of justice, and I'll have one or two brought to justice. That way, they won't all think they're so great!"
"Don't forget, when Emperor Sejong was choosing his successor, the Prime Minister sacrificed his own son for the sake of justice at the critical moment, and let his eldest son be beheaded! But the Prime Minister struggled to stay in the position for another two years, and finally retired with dignity. I am not as hard-hearted as him. At most, I can hold Dalang back from serving as an official. As for other relatives, I will never be soft-hearted at the critical moment!"
Gu was so frightened by what Grand Scholar Kong said that she hurriedly called her son and daughter-in-law to reprimand them. At that time, Duke Qin Zhang Chuan also returned to the palace and told the emperor the truth about the trick he had played on Grand Scholar Kong.
As a result, the emperor could not help but look him up and down, left and right, and studied him for a long time. Then he laughed and said, "Mr. Zhang, I have always thought that you are a sincere and honest gentleman. I wonder if you can cheat?"
Zhang Chuan didn't care about the emperor's ridicule, and said honestly, "After I went to the Kong Mansion, the second son of the Kong family came out to greet me personally. He tried every means to delay time, as if he was reluctant to let me visit the patient. It was not until I said it was an imperial decree that he had to give way. At that time, I was wondering if the Kong family had any concerns."
"After meeting him, I found that although he looked a little tired, he was in good spirits. After a few pleasantries, he seemed a little lazy. I wondered if I could force him to obey the emperor's order, he might rebel and refuse to obey. In this case, I had no choice but to lead by example."
The emperor couldn't help but be amused: "Have you ever thought about what would happen if you make things worse?"
"At worst, I will go there in person." Zhang Chuan said seriously, "Although I, Duke Qin, am not as famous as the cabinet minister Kong Daxueshi, I am not far behind. Moreover, as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, it is only natural for me to do such a thing. Of course, the emperor only asked me to pass on the oral order before, but I acted on my own. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
"Forget about the punishment, I'm not that stingy!" The emperor looked at this second-generation nobleman who had always been low-key with a fake smile, and then stroked his chin with interest, "Why didn't I find you such an interesting person before? In fact, if you were not interesting, how could you raise a son like Zhang Chen?"
If it were some truly meticulous ministers, they would definitely feel extremely humiliated when they heard the word "interesting", but Zhang Chuan was younger than Zhu Jing, the same age as the emperor, and he inherited the title of Duke at a young age. When his mother was alive, he was a frequent visitor to the Empress Dowager's Qingning Palace, so he was actually very familiar with the emperor's temper, and therefore only regarded these words as an ordinary teasing.
"I am just a clumsy person and don't know how to get along with my son." Zhang Chuan smiled and then said sincerely, "As for that little trick, it was because I thought the emperor might not care, so I dared to try it. I hope the emperor will forgive me."
“Be it forgiveness or punishment, there is no need to say more. I have chosen the right person to handle this matter. After you leave the palace, send someone to tell Scholar Kong to write the letter personally, so that others won’t say that I forced him to travel while sick, and that I don’t sympathize with my ministers.” Well, Zhang Chuan did a great job, so he didn’t have to write the criticized oral order!
Seeing Zhang Chuan's immediate response, he said earnestly, "I heard that Yingying tried to match Zhang Chen up several times, but problems always occurred and she failed in the end. As a father, you should also think of a way, such as setting a trap for Zhang Chen like you did today! Don't just ignore him normally and beat him up when you get involved! Although I am not qualified to teach you, you can learn from others!"
