My father is Jiajing

Chapter 401 How did Zhu Biao die?

cabinet.

The two sons, Yan Shifan and Xu Fan, each tried hard to find someone to operate the remaining seats on the board of directors of the Ming Federal Reserve.

But within the cabinet, everything was calm and normal, with no changes.

Yan Song dozed off in the first seat in the cabinet, looking at the official documents and government affairs that were about to come out, with the Qingci written for him by Yan Shifan lying next to him.

Xu Jie was sitting on one side of the cabinet, sitting at the same desk as Yan Song, but he was in much better spirits than Yan Song and did not fall asleep.

On his side, Lu Ben worked with Hanlin scholar Li Chunfang to deal with the government documents moved over by the Zhongshu Sheren.

They meticulously checked the contents of the documents, and put words such as "urgent", "slow", and "temporary" on the surface of each document, and then sorted them out again to make sure there were no problems.

Lu Ben looked at Li Chunfang, who was working meticulously, with admiration in his eyes.

Because Li Chunfang also entered the cabinet as a Hanlin student, which was exactly the same as his original promotion path.

Moreover, Li Chunfang is a top scholar. Whether he speaks or writes, he can make people feel relaxed and happy, and it is very useful.

So in normal times, Lu Ben likes to work with Li Chunfang like this.

While sorting out the documents, Lu Ben picked up another idle conversation, "Zishi, are you aware of the recent situation of the Ming Federal Reserve?"

Just as Lu Ben asked this question in a low voice, Yan Song, who was dozing off, and Xu Jie, who was working seriously, both pricked up their ears at the same time, wanting to hear Li Chunfang's reply clearly.

When Li Chunfang heard Lü Ben asking him this question, he smiled and said, "Lord, how can I know the answer to this question?"

Lu Ben said: "Zi Shi, it's not very kind of you to say that. Everyone knows that you are from Prince Yu's mansion. Now that Prince Yu has made such a big fuss, how can you not have any information?"

Li Chunfang said: "I really don't know about this matter. The prince is very intelligent. He can summarize the main points without discussing many things with us. Therefore, I really don't know about the Ming Federal Reserve."

Lu Ben sighed, "You don't know about the Ming Dynasty Federal Reserve, but do you know about the Yangzhou Guild Hall? Although Yangzhou is the territory of the salt merchants, no one dares to underestimate the other chambers of commerce in Yangzhou."

"I heard that some of them have come to you and want a seat on the board of directors of the Ming Federal Reserve. I wonder how you responded to them?"

Li Chunfang knew that this seemingly weak Lord Lu was not a good person.

Damn it, he actually asked such a sensitive question in front of Lord Yan and Lord Xu in the cabinet.

Li Chunfang coughed slightly, then said: "This matter is now under the charge of Gao Xinzheng. He is the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. I can't get a word in. So, I sent them away."

Lu Ben chuckled: "Really? I heard that they stayed in your house for a long time, and came for several days in a row. You really didn't help them?"

At this time, cursing and slandering someone in his heart like this could kill him. Li Chunfang would definitely curse Lu Ben to death in his heart. How would he know that?
In fact, this information was not found out by Lu Ben, but was found out by Lu Ben’s fellow Zhejiang natives.

After seeing that the Ming Federal Reserve was established and had fifteen more board seats, these Zhejiang fellows naturally became restless.

Although they were not as good as the Huizhou merchants or the monopolistic salt merchants in the south, they could not compete with them at sea except Fujian. However, as pirates and Japanese pirates became more rampant in recent years, their business naturally suffered losses.

Now that the news of the Ming Federal Reserve has spread, any businessman with a little business acumen and foresight can immediately realize how important the fifteen board seats of the Ming Federal Reserve are.

If they can get one of the seats, then as long as the Ming Dynasty does not fall, they will always be invincible in the future!

So, this group of Zhejiang fellows found Lu Ben.

Lu Ben is from Ningbo, Zhejiang. Now he is a cabinet minister, so naturally he becomes the object of reliance and the object that these Zhejiang businessmen want to join.

After all, doing business is not just about doing business, you also need the support of big shots.

Otherwise, no matter how much money you make, you are just a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.

Therefore, after Lü Ben became a cabinet minister, these fellow Zhejiang natives unanimously regarded Lü Ben as the leader of the Zhejiang forces. During festivals, they all brought large and small bags to pay their respects to Lü Ben and maintained an extremely friendly relationship with him.

Therefore, when Lu Ben asked Li Chunfang these questions at this time, he was not simply asking for himself, but for the fellow villagers behind him.

Li Chunfang smiled awkwardly and sighed, "Yes, these fellow villagers are very enthusiastic. Every time they come to Beijing, they will bring me a lot of local specialties from their hometown. So, I have to take time to entertain them. Otherwise, people will say that I have forgotten my hometown and my roots after becoming an official, which would be bad."

Lu Ben chuckled and was not very satisfied with Li Chunfang's answer, but he also knew that this matter was too sensitive and he would definitely not get anything out of Li Chunfang by asking him like this.

So Lu Ben smiled and said, "Recently, a new Zhejiang teahouse has opened in the Jingshi Special District outside Chongwenmen. They have the good Longjing tea that was newly delivered this year. After the shift, if Zishi has nothing to do, we can go and taste the tea and see how it tastes."

Hearing Lv Ben's invitation, Li Chunfang could no longer refuse his face, so he replied: "Okay, I haven't had authentic Jiangnan tea for a long time."

Yan Song and Xu Jie listened to the conversation between Lu Ben and Li Chunfang, and no one knew what was going on in their minds.

But what is certain is that both Yan Song and Xu Jie were very interested in this matter and wanted to find out the truth.

After all, they both knew that their son was also arranging this matter for the sake of a seat on the board of directors of the Ming Federal Reserve.

But there are only fifteen seats. If you can’t get them early, you will suffer a great loss if someone else takes the lead.

So don’t be fooled by the fact that Yan Song and Xu Jie both looked high and mighty and acted like honest and moral men. In fact, they knew the importance of power and money better than anyone else.

Otherwise, don’t even think about getting anything done in this cabinet or in the Ming Dynasty!

Just as these people were trying to take the final board seat, Zhu Zaigui, who was leisurely playing with his son at home, suddenly became unhappy.

Because another imperial edict came from the palace, asking him to continue dealing with memorials sent by the Imperial Household Department and the Cabinet.

Watching box after box of confidential memorials being moved into Zhu Zaigui’s study, Zhu Zaigui finally understood how Zhu Biao and Zhu Pangpang died young. It turned out that they were all “killed” by their father!

(End of this chapter)