eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 827 Public Intentions and Selfishness

"Even if something goes wrong as expected by Prince Yu, there is no need for His Highness to be so angry."

In Zaihe's mansion, Jiang Yong, Jiang Mian and Yu Chengxun were talking earnestly again.

Before Zai Gao left the palace, he started to speak harshly to Zai I. This happened in the palace, and it was so clear that it would be difficult for people to not know about it.

Jiang Mian felt that the emperor's eldest son's behavior was beneath his status. However, the Zhengde Emperor was a genius. Most people like this could not stand fools, so he tried his best to violate the superiority and inferiority of his superiors and inferiors, but also said such a thing.

Although Zaihe's anger had subsided at this time, he still felt like a thorn in his heart when he thought that he had made his father unhappy for nothing and suffered a big secret loss.

He rarely behaves so poorly in front of you.

So he said impatiently, "Okay, okay, I won't blame him anymore."

However, later on, in terms of attitude towards specific matters, he was naturally more biased towards the ministers in front of him, and his second brother was really unreliable.

In order to be a good old man, Jiang Mian later went to Zai Yi's house to work as a peacemaker.

The eldest brother and the second child are always bound together. This situation cannot be broken, otherwise even their own brothers will not be able to unite. How will they look in the eyes of the emperor?

But he missed it,

The father-in-law who came to the palace to announce the summons also came to nothing and was looking for someone else.

Jiang Mian originally wanted to wait, but when he heard that the emperor had summoned him, he naturally gave up his plan to meet the second prince today. After all, Zai Yi was back and there was no time to listen to him.

I just don’t know why the emperor summoned the second prince alone...

Jiang Mian was a little worried. The rift between the two brothers had not yet been completely settled. It would be best if there were no problems in meeting the emperor at this time.

In fact, Zai Yan was not hiding from anyone, he was at Mei Mansion at the moment.

But not for his uncle, but for his grandfather, Jinghaihou Mei Kejia.

Mei Kejia is over sixty years old. Although his purple robe embroidered with birds of prey is very beautiful, he is old and frail, and his spirit is weak. Not only is his back stooped, but his face also has wrinkles like ravines. It's really embarrassing. A senile one.

Speaking also makes people feel like there is always a mouthful of phlegm that cannot be swallowed.

People have to serve their old age. If this were not the case, he would not have quit working when he came back from Zhejiang.

After returning home, he took care of some fresh things. Zai Yan came to honor him, and what he held in his hand was a beautifully embroidered bag, and what he poured on the table was fine white sand.

Mei Kejia recognized it at a glance, "Is this fine salt?"

The development and production of fine salt have been developed by the Ming Academy of Sciences a few years ago. However, the method is simply dissolving, filtering, and then grinding. There should be some impurities, but in terms of sales, it is indeed better than before. Coarse salt is much better, and has become very popular among dignitaries in recent years.

"Although it is very similar, this is not fine salt, but sugar. It is sweet."

"Oh?" Mei Kejia's eyes moved. Although there are rare things now and then, he has never seen sugar like salt, so he touched it and dipped it into his mouth.

"It's so sweet."

Zaiyan smiled and said: "This is a sugar-making method collected from the people. It is called yellow mud water leaching method. It can purify sucrose and make it much sweeter. It is also white in color, fine in texture, and has an excellent taste. What does grandpa think? ?”

"Good! Good!"

The history of sugar consumption by Chinese people has gone through a process of obtaining it directly from nature and then purifying it over many years. Like salt, it has gone through many years of development.

As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there was a record of "Zhou Yuan is fermented, and Cordyceps are as sweet as glutinous rice". In fact, it means that some vegetables in nature have sweetness, which is most likely maltose.

However, sugar is mostly a luxury product because it takes time and effort to make, and it is not easy to fill the stomach. It is impossible to take out edible things to make sugar. During the Jin Dynasty, Wang Kai once used caramel to wash pots to "show off his wealth."

During the Song Dynasty, sugar-making technology further developed, and rock sugar could be produced, but it was not as white as ice cream and was purple or yellow because of impurities. Su Dongpo, a senior sweetener, once wrote a poem praising "Amber is recommended on an ice plate, how beautiful it is like sugar frost". He was referring to the amber color, which is somewhat similar to today's brown sugar.

After the Ming Dynasty, "Tiangong Kaiwu" recorded a method to "purify and purify" dark sucrose, making it white and crystal clear. Later until the Republic of China, the Chinese used this method to obtain white sugar.

And if you take out such a product now, you don't have to think about it, it is definitely a luxury product with an extremely high price.

"Grandpa understands what you mean. You want the company to trial-produce and then sell the product at a high price, right?"

Zai Yan did not deny it, "Da Ming Nanyang Company is the most suitable."

Mei Kejia thought about it for a moment, "Don't you submit it to the emperor yourself? This is also your filial piety."

"Sending it to grandpa to make him happy is also my filial piety."

"Are you having trouble with the boss?"

"It's true that good things don't go out, and bad things spread thousands of miles." Zai Yan felt a little helpless, "This thing should have been presented to my father by my eldest brother, but..."

"what happened?"

Zai Yan shook his head, "My uncle feels uncomfortable. He is always thinking about Nanyang Company. They don't know what they are doing to seduce the eldest brother. I'm afraid that if I give it to him as a gift, I will cause trouble."

Mei Kejia put the piece of paper on the table with the preparation method into his sleeve, "You have been thinking a lot since you were a child, and you can see clearly, but you don't say anything." "My grandson can't always think that he is smart. This time I made a mistake and made my eldest brother suffer. My eldest brother and uncle believed me, so it should be my fault."

"You mean that Zhang Cong?"

"Ah."

"He is a capable man. He has done so many things in these years. Although the emperor is in charge of the overall situation, things always have to be handled by the people below. A person of your age is born into a prosperous Ming Dynasty. I don't know that now Earning 60 million dan of grain and 40 million taels of silver per year was something that many people would not dare to think about twenty years ago. At that time, it was difficult to come up with millions of dan of grain. What about the national treasury? It was empty. "

Zai Yan understood, "Grandpa followed my father at that time... Throughout the court, grandpa was the only one who had known each other for a long time, and... he was probably the earliest one, right? It is said that Zhang Bingyong knew the holy will best, but My grandson believes that grandpa is no worse than him at this point."

Having said this, Mei Kejia naturally smiled slightly.

"So you came here to bribe me today."

A smile appeared on Zai Yan's innocent-looking face, and she stood up and bowed formally, "Please grandpa, please clarify your grandson's doubts!"

"But don't you care about this?"

"But you also have to know where you died, otherwise you won't die in peace?"

"Okay." Mei Kejia agreed.

So Zai Yan held his arm and sat down.

"I still remember that the emperor said a long time ago that ministers do not need to speculate on the holy will. Because the emperor expressed his holy will, it is beneficial to the country, the country, and the people of the Ming Dynasty. This is true, but it is extremely difficult to do it. . For example, you think that Zhang Bing used power to be dictatorial and exclude dissidents. It would be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty to overthrow him. But in fact, he failed miserably, so you are sometimes confused. But if you really think about it, it is actually very simple. Just two One word, public heart."

"Public minded?"

"Ask yourself if you are doing this out of public interest or if you have your own selfish motives." Mei Kejia tapped his chest.

Zai Yan frowned, "Actually, it's hard to tell. Jiang Mian, Yu Chengxun and others must 'defeat Zhang'. This is not necessarily selfish, they are also single-minded ministers."

"But Zhang Cong's heart is easy to distinguish. He is motivated by public motives."

Zai Yan was shocked and a little unbelievable.

"You will definitely think that this person is obviously a traitor, right? But if you think about it carefully, what did Zhang Cong seek for himself? Money? Everyone knows that the chief minister of the dynasty is not greedy for money, and he hates greed for money. Power? The dignified chief minister. , if he has no power, he might as well become an official. Posthumous reputation? He doesn’t even want his lifetime reputation, so how can he care about his posthumous reputation? Moreover, I predict that this time he will be able to get through the smuggling of official silver safely. There must be something big going on. Tell me, why wouldn’t the emperor use such a minister who is dedicated to the public good and has such outstanding ability?”

"But it's true that the people he used did illegal things like smuggling official banknotes!"

"Everyone has no faults, and they can be corrected. Didn't I say before that the emperor is a generous man, as long as there is a way to remedy it, that's fine. Besides, the money didn't go into Zhang Cong's own pocket, and it's not like he was greedy. .”

"But doesn't this mean that Zhang Cong hires people inappropriately?"

This is indeed a critical point.

Mei Kejia pondered slightly, "So I said there must be something big going on. You are not the only smart person in this world, Zhang Cong will also find a way to protect himself. Just wait, something will happen after all. In short, the Emperor In my eyes, you two brothers are hard to distinguish between public and private matters, while Zhang Cong is actually working for the imperial court."

Zai Yan suddenly understood.

In fact, it is really difficult to grasp the subtleties accurately. One thing in court is understanding, and the other is experience.

Zhang Cong has been facing the pressure of being impeached. He has rich experience, but he is just smart. This naturally does not work when facing an equally smart person.

This is a lesson.

"My grandson understands."

Mei Kejia patted him on the shoulder. He actually liked Zai Yan more. But his two grandsons were very unlucky. Although they were not far apart, the order of the eldest and the second was already determined.

Mei Kejia knew some of the words in his heart, but he didn't want to say them. Saying them would ruin many things and would only make the second child feel aggrieved.

"By the way, grandpa, please try to persuade my uncle more. It's better not to worry about Nanyang Company anymore."

Mei Kejia shook his head, "When a child grows up, he can't help his mother, let alone his father. If you tell him not to fight or Zaihe not to fight, what will happen if others try to fight?"

With Zaiyan's intelligence, he naturally knew who this person was, and he suddenly had a headache again.

"Can't there be something simple?"

"Where does simplicity come from in the court?"

Zai Yan shouted for help, "Forget it, I'm sure my eldest brother won't believe me in the future, so I won't talk too much to avoid hurting my eldest brother again. I'll just keep it simple and take care of the difference for my father."

It was as if his mouth had been opened.

Not long after he said these words, a servant came in from outside. He knelt down to pay homage and said, "I would like to report to His Highness the Second Highness that someone is looking for someone in His Highness's residence. It is said that there is a decree from the palace, and His Highness the Second Highness has been announced to enter the palace. Please also ask Your Highness to respond to the order quickly."

Oh, Zai Yan stood up immediately and said, "Grandpa, my father has summoned me, and my grandson has resigned."