Hai Rui sent a nephew who was with him back to Nanjing to ask him about the situation of his mother and daughter. Only then could he decide whether to submit a petition for mourning.

But he waited for a long time, but his nephew did not bring back any news.

This made Hai Rui even more anxious and he couldn’t concentrate on his work at all.

Zhang Siwei, who was following him, secretly raised his lips when he saw this, and then advised Hai Rui: “Don’t worry too much, Xianzun. Good people will be blessed by heaven. Your mother and daughter will be fine.”

Hai Rui ignored Zhang Siwei.

Not long after, the voice of Hai Rui’s nephew came from outside the door.

“uncle!”

Hai Rui quickly turned around.

Zhang Siwei couldn’t help but stand up at this time, and his heart tightened.

because……

He didn’t hear any sadness or sympathy in the voice!
Hai Rui had already come to the door and stopped his nephew:

“How are my mother and my daughter?”

“Uncle, don’t worry. I have already found out everything. I have also seen the old lady and my younger sister. They are both fine!”

“Because they were rescued by the Jinyiwei after they fell into the water. Although they caught a cold, they recovered after receiving medicine prescribed by Doctor Li, who was an imperial physician in Beijing.”

Hai Rui heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. He clenched his right fist and pounded it heavily on the palm of his left hand: “That’s good.”

But Zhang Siwei’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot at this time.

He was even a little unwilling to believe this result.

However, Zhang Siwei still smiled and said, “This is really great. This shows that this is also the benefit of having the Jinyiwei!”

“The Jinyiwei are not able to predict everything. According to the Jinyiwei themselves, it was the emperor who asked them to secretly protect the old lady and my younger sister.”

Hai Rui’s nephew replied at this time.

Hai Rui also felt emotional, his eyes became moist, and he could not help looking north and knocking:

“Your Majesty, I, Hai Rui, thank you for your grace!”

Zhang Siwei smiled awkwardly: “Your Majesty is indeed the most benevolent monarch in the history. You care about the countrymen with all your heart!”

Then, Zhang Siwei also knelt down with Hai Rui: “Your Highness, Zhang Siwei, also kowtows to thank the Emperor for blessing the family of loyal and good people!”

Hai Rui stood up and said, “Now that I have the Jinyiwei guarding my family, I have no weaknesses. And since the emperor cares so much about his subjects, how can I not do my best to repay him?”

“Ziwei, we should rush to Hangzhou immediately and check the accounts of the Governor’s Office!”

Hai Rui then spoke to Zhang Siwei.

Zhang Siwei gritted his teeth and nodded: “Xianzun is right. As a minister, we should not let down such a holy and benevolent ruler! We should do our best to serve the king!”

And then, Hai Rui and his group really rushed to Hangzhou.

But on the boat heading to Hangzhou, Zhang Siwei kept his fists clenched and pinched his index finger with the nail of his thumb, almost pinching it to bleed.

Hai Rui stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the sky with great vigor and vitality. Soon, as the boat was near a village on the shore, he had the boat docked. He then changed into cloth clothes and straw sandals and went into the village.

Although Zhang Siwei could not hide his disdain for the cloth clothes and straw sandals, he still went along with Hai Rui and followed him into the village.

Hai Rui returned to the boat with peace of mind only after he entered the village and found out that single-parent families and families with many children had indeed received subsidy money.

But not long after Hai Rui returned to the ship, he arrived at a dock town and saw many local officials and common people in the town standing by the river to welcome him with food and fruits.

This surprised Hai Rui very much, and he quickly asked a gentleman to come on board to inquire.

“Your Majesty loves the people like his own children. He is not satisfied with the gentry who ignore the people’s sentiments and only seek comfort. Therefore, he has imposed a ban on the imperial examinations for one term on places like Chun’an County that have not implemented the national policy of population census well.”

“We, the gentry, are deeply grateful to Your Majesty for loving the people, and we feel ashamed! In order not to disappoint Your Majesty, we not only carefully supervise whether the government has implemented good policies, but also actively call on the villagers to welcome Mr. Hai when they know that a loyal and upright official like Mr. Hai is passing through, to prove that our village has no disrespect for loyal officials. We, the hypocrites, all wish that a capable official like Mr. Hai could always be the governor of our village.”

The gentleman explained the whole story to Hai Rui.

After hearing this, Hai Rui let the gentleman leave and politely declined the gifts from the people in the area. He did not stop and went directly to Hangzhou on the grounds of being busy with government affairs.

After the gentleman left, Hai Rui said to Zhang Siwei with emotion:

“Your Majesty is truly a holy king!”

“Yes, the people’s wisdom has not yet been fully developed, so the officials are unscrupulous in bullying the people, and the people who have been enlightened are lazy and love leisure, or they just take advantage of the people’s sentiments to do things that harm the country and benefit themselves. Now that Your Majesty is forcing them so hard, even the hypocrites can be used by Your Majesty!”

Zhang Siwei forced a smile and agreed, but his anger was pent up to the extreme.

“Why do you look so bad?”

Hai Rui noticed that Zhang Siwei’s face turned pale, so he started asking.

Zhang Siwei could not help but feel flustered, and hurriedly explained: “I am sorry to make you laugh, but I am from Jin, not used to riding a boat, and we did not stop in the middle, so I feel a little uncomfortable.”

“Then I’ll leave a boat for you to dock. You can take a rest first, and then take the boat to Hangzhou to meet me.”

Hai Rui therefore said.

Zhang Siwei quickly refused, “No, how can a junior delay state affairs?”

“There is no rush to deal with state affairs.”

Hai Rui said.

Zhang Siwei had no choice but to agree and then went ashore here.

As soon as he got ashore, Zhang Siwei completely sulked, gritted his teeth, and muttered to himself:
“Zhu Houcong, you are indeed powerful! But there will always be a day when you will die. When you die and I take over the country, it will be time for you to end your politics!”

“Brother Ziwei!”

Zhang Siwei had just finished muttering to himself when he heard someone among the gentry who were still waiting here calling him from behind.

Zhang Siwei looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Sun Long, his fellow Jinshi.

Zhang Siwei learned that Sun Long was from a prominent local family. His grandfather was the Minister of Rites, and his father was the Minister of Personnel in Nanjing. The entire Sun family had friends all over the world.

Therefore, Zhang Siwei also wanted to make friends, and hurriedly smiled and bowed:

“It turned out to be Wen Zhong!”

So Zhang Siwei stayed in Sun Long’s garden that night and took a night stroll in the garden with Sun Long.

Zhang Siwei naturally praised the exquisiteness and elegance of the Sun family’s garden.

Sun Long, while speaking modestly, sighed and said:

“Fortunately, Brother Ziwei can come today, otherwise this place will be acquired by the government after the New Year.”

“Government purchase?”

Zhang Siwei was greatly surprised.

Sun Long smiled and said, “Yes, our Sun family intends to move to the newly established Nara area of ​​the Imperial Ming Dynasty, and one branch has already moved there.”

“Why are you moving away suddenly?”

Zhang Siwei asked.

Sun Long sighed and said, “Brother, why do you ask when you already know the answer? Don’t you think that ever since the treacherous minister Zhang Fujing misinterpreted the great ceremony, there have been many treacherous ministers in the country who have used the name of achieving universal harmony to prevent the scholars and officials from enjoying their freedom here?”

“Indeed!”

Zhang Siwei also sighed, and then said: “It’s good to leave, it’s good to leave, but can Nara compare with Jiangnan?”

“Although it can’t be compared, it’s not that bad! This place was originally built based on Chinese culture, with many temples and palaces, and there are also local scholars and musicians, so the local gentry didn’t feel out of place and started to build gardens and keep slaves.”

“And the envoys sent by the court to other places have to rely on us to educate the local people, so they will naturally show respect to us. It is precisely because of this that the officials and gentry over there still do not perform their duties or pay taxes. It can be said to be a place where courtesy is revived.” Sun Long said with a smile.

Zhang Siwei smiled slightly after hearing this.

Although he was tempted to go abroad, he did not make up his mind.

Because he was from Jin and had lived in the inland for generations, he was more cautious about going overseas. Naturally, he could not compare with the Zhejiang people who went in and out of Japan all year round. He could not be as stress-free about going to Japan as Zhejiang gentry like Sun Long.

You know, many people along the Zhejiang coast even had no language barriers to communicate with the Japanese, and the exchanges between the two sides have been going on for more than one or two generations.

However, even though there is no pressure, aristocratic families like Sun Long are unwilling to leave easily unless it is absolutely necessary.

Therefore, Sun Long, knowing Zhang Siwei’s true position, said:

“I hadn’t thought about leaving yet, but who knew that the court would issue another decree, clearly stating that if this national policy that only benefits the people is not well implemented, we gentry will be punished! They said that we failed to organize the hypocrites well, which led to the lack of political order and harmony in the local area, so the gentry in Chun’an County and other places suffered first.”

“Now, for us scholars, even keeping silent is a sin! So we have no choice but to leave!”

“Yes, the Yan Party is abominable! They are so harsh on the gentry, and they only share the world with the common people.”

Zhang Siwei followed suit and sighed.

At this moment, Sun Long suddenly turned around and bowed to Zhang Siwei, saying:
“I am not talented enough and I am ill, so I have no intention of pursuing a career in government. In the future, I can only count on you to restore order and take care of scholars like me.”

Seeing this, Zhang Siwei hurriedly bowed in return, then just smiled and walked forward.

Sun Long followed and said, “I have already seen clearly that with Brother Ziwei’s talent, he will be appointed as a prime minister sooner or later! In the future, if the world is to be restored to its original state, it will take Brother Ziwei to come!”

Zhang Siwei remained noncommittal and only sighed at the unique scenery in Sun Long Garden.

Sun Long smiled and said, “There are several other unique views. Brother Ziwei, please follow me.”

“please!”

Not long after, Sun Long brought Zhang Siwei to a waterside pavilion.

Zhang Siwei was quickly attracted by the “scenery” in the water pavilion.

Because the pavilion was filled with gold, and there stood a young woman with an outstanding appearance.

“What a beautiful scenery!”

Zhang Siwei sighed.

“This is my younger sister, Sun Ying. My grandfather has always doted on her the most, so all the gold here is prepared as her dowry.”

“But I have never married and I only want to marry a talented man. I have heard that Brother Ziwei is very talented, so if Brother Ziwei is willing to marry me, these dowries will be sent to your house.”

“In addition, we will give Brother Ziwei 10% of our gold mine in Luzon every year. The amount is about half of my little sister’s dowry today.”

Sun Long said at this time.

Zhang Siwei couldn’t control himself anymore after hearing this.

Because Zhang Siwei has always been known in history for his emphasis on money and profit, and he even openly advocates the pursuit of profit.

So Zhang Siwei immediately turned around and asked Sun Long: “Really?”

“How dare I lie to Brother Ziwei.”

“If Brother Ziwei didn’t distrust me, I wouldn’t have dared to tell Brother Ziwei about this.”

Sun Long said.

Zhang Siwei nodded repeatedly.

He knew that the mineral resources in these places of Luzon were still the private property of the emperor, and only imperial merchants were qualified to mine them in accordance with the emperor’s order.

The gentry and wealthy who moved overseas secretly mined, which was difficult to detect because of the remoteness of the country and the large number of overseas islands, but it was still a violation of the national law.

Now that Sun Long asked him to take care of him, he also wanted him to act as a spy in the court to keep an eye on the court’s movements for his Sun family.

Zhang Siwei thought about how his family’s profits from smuggling in Shanxi had been greatly reduced because the northern barbarians had been relocated overseas in large numbers and no tribute agreement had been reached. In addition, national policies such as land surveying, land tax distribution, and the unified payment of taxes by officials and gentry had also greatly reduced his family’s income from land rental. Extra income was also needed to maintain the life of the large number of slaves he used to have.

So, Zhang Siwei finally agreed and accepted the benefit.

This made Sun Long very happy.

Because his family has no shortage of gold and silver, what they lack is officials willing to be his spies in the court.

And Zhang Siwei himself was also very happy.

After all, he came to Zhejiang with Hai Rui as a trial censor, but basically received no benefits and instead suffered a lot.

Now he has received a large sum of money all at once, and also got a young and beautiful woman.

Zhang Siwei was naturally very happy.

But suddenly, he heard loud shouting outside, which made him frown: “What’s so noisy?”

“Of course, it was the touring play put on by the officials in charge of observing customs and rectifying social practices and bringing those poor scholars. Because it was free and sometimes they even gave out rice and oil, many people came to watch it.”

“Brother Ziwei should know.”

Sun Long also said this with displeasure.

Zhang Siwei naturally knew that after the current emperor set up the official in charge of observing customs and rectifying morals, he would let the official use a certain amount of money every year to carry out large-scale educational work, and preach to the people some plays and scripts that were approved by the court and had the value of enlightening the people.

Therefore, many plays directly expose the crimes of the gentry.

Zhang Siwei had seen quite a few such plays in his hometown and other places, and he did not like this kind of play being performed among the common people.

in fact……

Logically, the gentry class was not short of money, so they could naturally pay people to use plays and storybooks to publicize the virtuous deeds of their class and guide the people.

But the gentry couldn’t do it.

One reason is that no matter how you look at it, this is spending money on ordinary people, which is like giving money to the poor. It is equivalent to begging the people to understand oneself, which is really a loss of status and decency.

Second, this kind of expenditure is not small. Now they have lost the interests of monopolizing maritime and border trade, and their ability to annex land has been curbed. They really cannot do it on a large scale.
Therefore, bureaucrats and gentry like Zhang Siwei and Sun Long were helpless against this system.

Zhang Siwei could only swear secretly that if he could really take power in the future, he would convert those who were in charge of observing customs and rectifying habits from all over the country into his own people, and then use the court’s money to promote for the gentry!

But Zhang Siwei’s idea had just taken root in his mind for a short time. When he returned to Hangzhou and met Hai Rui, Hai Rui asked him seriously, “Censor Zhang Siwei, do you admit your guilt?”

Zhang Siwei was surprised, but his heart was in turmoil:

“Xian Zun, what crime do I know?”

“I already know that you accepted generous gifts from Sun Long and other gentry and smuggled tens of thousands of gold back to Jin. I have also informed Hu Bu Tang, who has sent troops to seize the stolen money. He also seized the servants you sent back and your letters home.”

As Hai Rui spoke, he took out a petition from his sleeve and said, “This is Minister Hu’s reply.”

“How did Hu Butang know that I stopped by myself in Yuyao?”

“You sent someone to keep an eye on me?”

Zhang Siwei asked Hai Rui.

Hai Rui smiled slightly, “That’s right, I deliberately let you go ashore to rest for a while, and I also bribed your people to keep an eye on you. I am Hai Rui, but I am not stupid. You are such a smart person, Zhang Siwei, why do you think I can’t see anything wrong with you these days?”

Zhang Siwei swallowed a few times, his face looking so gloomy that he seemed to be about to fall into the water.

The Hu Butang mentioned by Hai Rui was naturally Hu Zongxian, who had been promoted to Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang in the 35th year of Jiajing.

Zhang Siwei knew that Hu Zongxian was a close friend of the current Prime Minister Yan Song, and naturally a core member of the Emperor’s Party. If his affairs fell into Hu Zongxian’s hands, he would not have a good ending.

Sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead, his mouth and nose became moist, and the muscles on his face contracted violently.

Even more so, when he thought about the fact that he still had the extravagant hope that he could take power after the emperor passed away and end Jiajing’s rule, he fell to the ground in despair. (End of this chapter)