Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

When Zhang Shikang woke up the next morning, there was no one around him. Chen Zhuer had already dressed neatly, prepared the water for washing her face, and was arranging the food that had just been delivered.

"Master is awake. Zhu'er will help you get dressed."

As she said that, Zhu'er put down the work in her hands and went to help Zhang Shikang get his clothes. Zhang Shikang took them and put them on casually without asking Zhu'er for help.

In his opinion, even if one is a playboy, he doesn't need others to serve him even when he wants to put on clothes. It makes him look like a puppet. It is totally unnecessary.

He washed his face, put some tooth powder on his face and brushed his teeth, spitting out pig hair as he brushed.

The toothbrushes at that time were not as sophisticated as those in later generations. They were made of pig bristles, and the handles were made of bones. Due to the low level of technology, it was difficult to fix the bristles firmly, resulting in the bristles falling off while brushing.

Even so, bone toothbrushes are not affordable for ordinary people. As for tooth powder, it is made by grinding salt, ginger, rehmannia, lotus leaves, and cimicifuga into powder, which has the effects of anti-inflammatory, sterilization, and freshening breath.

After all, the Duke of Yingguo’s mansion was a wealthy family, and the handles of their toothbrushes were made of ivory. However, Zhang Shikang still disliked them because the bristles were too hard and could easily hurt his gums.

In other words, I don't have the energy now, but I will definitely improve it when I have time in the future. Zhang Shikang made another note in the little notebook in his heart.

Zhang Shikang still asked Zhu'er to eat at the table. His father had to go to court, so he got up too early and had to eat early. He felt it was boring to eat alone.

Chen Zhu'er seemed to be eating obediently, but in fact she was always secretly glancing at Zhang Shikang out of the corner of her eye. Last night she reminded herself not to sleep too deeply, but how could one control oneself once falling asleep?

She liked to sleep with her pillow in her arms and moved around. When she woke up in the morning, her face turned red. One of her legs was on Zhang Shikang's body and her right hand was on Zhang Shikang's chest.

Fortunately, Zhang Shikang was sleeping so soundly that he didn't notice it, otherwise she wouldn't know how to explain it.

She always had the illusion that the young master was different now than before. He was no longer impatient or yelling at her when talking to her, but was very gentle to her instead.

"How did you sleep last night?" Zhang Shikang asked casually while drinking porridge.

"Ah? Still...not bad."

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted, and Chen Zhu'er replied with a guilty conscience.

"Then eat well, you are growing!" Zhang Shikang urged the girl seeing that she was absent-minded.

"Oh."

What she expected did not happen. The young master suddenly treated her very well. She liked this change very much.

After finishing breakfast, Zhang Shikang put on the shorts and short-sleeved shirt that the tailor had brought him and modified, and started running around the inner courtyard of the mansion.

Even playboys need to exercise, otherwise they won’t be able to win in a fight.

After all, it was morning and the weather was still a little chilly. After running for a while, his body warmed up. His house is very big and it takes him 10 to 20 minutes to run one lap.

At first, the servants in the Duke's Mansion were all very surprised. They had never seen such strange clothes and didn't understand why Zhang Shikang was running around.

But Zhang Shikang didn't care. He greeted them with a smile.

The physical condition of this body was not very good. Zhang Shikang stopped panting after running only a lap and a half.

He walked around the huge yard, selected a small area, and ordered the servants to pull out all the flowers, plants and trees on the grass and pave the lawn with blue bricks.

More than a dozen servants worked for most of the morning and finally made some strange things according to Zhang Shikang's requirements.

It was a horizontal bar, a sandbag, and a curved bench for doing sit-ups.

Zhang Shikang also put up a wooden sign next to it, with the words "gym" written in his own clumsy calligraphy.

It was almost noon when Zhang Shikang took a shower and changed his clothes. After breakfast, he asked his servants to notify his brothers one by one.

He is going to treat his brothers to a drink at noon today.

Chen's Restaurant was closed, so we booked a private room in another restaurant not far from Chen's Restaurant. The food tasted good, but there was no cockfighting arena.

When Zhang Shikang arrived at the place, almost everyone was already there. Compared to Zhang Shikang, Xu Wenyuan and his men had much more free time. What this group of people were most concerned about now was that big event, so they surrounded Zhang Shikang as soon as he arrived.

In order to prevent being eavesdropped by Jin Mouwei again, Zhang Shikang this time specially assigned two people to keep an eye on him, and even had them deliver the dishes personally.

"Brothers, I have good news for you. Our plan is already halfway successful. His Majesty wants to appoint me as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp."

Zhang Shikang announced this explosive news right away. As expected, everyone was so happy when they heard the news that many of them jumped up.

The elders always treat them as children, thinking that they are immature and ignorant. But even if they are really children, they never think so, not to mention that they have grown up.

Ordinary people may not know how high a rank the Governor of the Beijing Camp is, but these children of nobles know it.

The three major camps of the Beijing Camp were the Wujun Camp, the Sanqian Camp and the Shenji Camp. The Wujun Camp was mainly infantry, the Sanqian Camp was cavalry, and the Shenji Camp was a specialized firearms unit.

The commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp was on the same level as the left and right commanders-in-chief of the Five Military Commanderies in terms of position, but in terms of authority, he was even greater than the commander-in-chief.

After all, the Beijing Camp is the emperor's personal army and is directly under the emperor. Everyone feels honored to be part of it. They may no longer consider themselves children, but they very much hope to be recognized and praised by their parents.

The most direct way is naturally the official position you hold.

"I have also mentioned you to His Majesty. His Majesty knows your loyalty. As long as this plan succeeds, I promise you that you will all have the opportunity to make great achievements."

"We knew that Big Brother wouldn't forget us. Here, let's have a glass of wine, toast to Big Brother!" Xu Wenyuan's lips were cracked all the way to his neck. He immediately picked up the wine glass and everyone drank it all in one gulp.

After putting down his wine glass, Zhang Shikang suddenly became depressed, sighed and said:

"Alas, do you know that last night His Majesty invited me to dinner, but all I had was pickled radish, not even any meat porridge."

"Your Majesty, why doesn't you eat beef?" Sun Dasheng said with a bulging mouth as he bit a piece of meat.

"Sun Dasheng, you are such a fool. My elder brother has already said that His Majesty eats pickled radish."

"Yeah, why not beef?"

"Your Majesty will definitely not want to eat it."

"Is there anything like this? Beef is so delicious, my dad eats it every day."

Seeing that the atmosphere that had been brewing with great difficulty was about to be destroyed by these guys who didn't want to eat meat, Zhang Shikang hurriedly said:

"Your Majesty is being frugal. In order to save money, the entire palace is tightening its belt."

After hearing this, Sun Dasheng finally looked at the chicken leg in his hand, and Xu Wenyuan and the others also frowned.

"I saw the patches on His Majesty's robe with my own eyes. He is the emperor, yet he can do such a thing.

I feel pity for you when I see you."

Zhang Shikang looked in pain, but he was pretending of course. He just felt pity for Emperor Chongzhen.

Being the Son of Heaven and enduring such a difficult situation, he is diligent and frugal, but a little stupid.

However, everyone present was indeed shocked. The teacher said, "When the king worries, the ministers are humiliated; when the king is humiliated, the ministers die." How could they feel honored when the emperor acted like this?

"But brother, how could the imperial court be so poor? Why doesn't my family lack money?"

Zhang Shikang glared at Wang Jingduo and thought to himself that it was because everyone had enough money that the court was short of money.

But of course he wouldn't say that, so as not to discourage everyone's morale.

"It's all because of the bandits! There are wars everywhere now, brothers, this is a good time for us to make achievements.

As long as our plan succeeds and helps His Majesty raise military funds, not only will His Majesty use us, but even our father will look upon us with new eyes!"

Seeing that everyone's morale was high again, Zhang Shikang paused and said:

"Except for Sun Dasheng, none of us brothers are the eldest sons and have no inheritance rights. Although we have the support of our ancestors and will never have to worry about food and drink, what's the point of that?

A good man should be armed to the teeth and fight bravely to defeat the enemies for His Majesty, and strive for success and fame for himself, so as to make the life in this world worthwhile!

Brothers, we have no other choice but to make achievements! "

Zhang Shikang completely ignited the fighting spirit in everyone's hearts. Even the most timid Wang Jingduo's face turned red. Sun Dasheng even punched the table, making a loud bang.

At this moment, my vision for the future finally overwhelmed the guilt of letting my father down.

Sun Dasheng came over quietly and took out another five thousand taels of silver from his pocket and handed it to Zhang Shikang.

"Brother, I sold my mother's jewelry and all the valuable things in the house and gave them to you."

"That's your mother's relic. If your father knew about it, he would beat you to death!" Wang Jingduo exclaimed.

"Go ahead and hit me. It's my dad's fault for not knowing how to make money. My mom knows I'm doing this for my future and she won't blame me.

"Brother, I want to make achievements, I want to fight in battles and become famous!" Sun Dasheng said nonchalantly.

"Me too!"

Everyone was drinking and talking happily, and they were all excited about the future. Zhang Shikang felt that things were finally settled, and it was up to Emperor Chongzhen to deal with it next.

After three rounds of drinks, considering that except Sun Dasheng, none of them was the eldest son, in order to further enhance the cohesion, at the suggestion of Zhang Shikang and with the approval of everyone, a small group was formed.

Zhang Shikang named this small group the "Second Son Group".

Thus, an organization that became famous all over the world a few years later was born.

In the afternoon, many eunuchs came out of the palace, each holding an invitation. After leaving the palace, they headed towards their respective destinations.

That was an invitation to Emperor Chongzhen's family dinner.

……