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

"You didn't expect that, did you? His Majesty appointed me as the Admiral of the Beijing Camp. How dare a commoner like you disrespect the Admiral of the Beijing Camp? Ahahaha!"

Zhang Shikang burst into laughter after he finished speaking. The humiliation in his words was not concealed at all and even overflowed.

Zhou Dasheng had been spoiled since childhood and had never suffered such an insult. He was so angry that his lungs were about to explode.

"You wait!"

"Why, you want to go look for your grandfather? Forget it, Brother Zhou.

So many nobles have donated money, but your grandfather has remained silent. Don’t you understand?

In your grandfather's eyes, you are worthless, so why humiliate yourself?"

For Zhang Shikang, this completely spoiled grandfather's boy is too easy to deal with. Whenever this kind of person encounters difficulties, he will immediately go to his grandfather.

Because it has been like this since I was a child. As long as I can find my grandfather, all problems will be solved.

But this situation also creates another problem. As long as their demands are not met, these spoiled children will do anything out of the need to prove their status.

"Impossible! My grandfather will definitely help me. Just wait and see. When I become a general, you will be in trouble!"

Having said that, Zhou Dasheng stopped listening to Zhang Shikang's chatter and walked straight towards Jiading Earl Zhou Kui.

"Grandpa, I also want to have a job. Why don't you donate some money?" As he has always been spoiled, Zhou Dasheng never speaks in a roundabout way.

Zhou Kui frowned when he heard this.

"If you really want to take on the task, Grandpa will find a way to make it possible for you to take on the task without donating money."

Zhou Kui is now in a dilemma. He originally came here to have a meal, but who would have thought that his son-in-law would come to beg him for food.

Originally, everyone could just pretend to donate a few hundred taels to get the matter over with, but this kind of thing happened.

Now, the smallest donation from other families is tens of thousands of taels, tens of thousands of taels!

Zhou Kui had been afraid of poverty since he was a child, and even now he would not spend money if he could avoid it. Except for his favorite grandson, everyone else, including his son, only received ten taels of silver every month.

Asking him to pay so much silver at once is more painful than cutting his flesh. Donating several hundred taels now would definitely be embarrassing. It would be better not to donate. Although it is also a bit embarrassing, it can save several hundred taels. Why not do it?

He was not afraid of the emperor causing trouble. After all, he was his father-in-law. How could he force him to death?

In Zhou Kui's opinion, this is not shameful. If he had to choose between face and money, Zhou Kui would definitely choose money because he had really been poor.

But now that his grandson had stood up, he felt a little embarrassed. He could only lie to him and wait until he got home to talk about it.

But Zhou Dasheng had just been provoked by Zhang Shikang, so he was not willing to wait. Of course he had to get back his lost face by himself.

"No, Grandpa, I want to do the job now, Grandpa, please help me, I want it now!"

Zhou Dasheng became hysterical, just like he did when he was a child.

But Zhou Kui had long been accustomed to his grandson's unreasonable behavior, and he still just said that he would find a way later.

Zhou Dasheng sat on the ground and started throwing a tantrum.

"You're lying. You just can't bear to spend money! Your grandson is not as important as money!"

Zhou Dasheng started crying. Zhang Shikang couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he planned to pull Zhou Dasheng aside to give him some advice, but Zhou Kui was not happy.

"Zhang boy, don't deceive my grandson. Duke of England, please take care of your child!" Zhou Kui scolded Zhang Shikang and said to Zhang Zhiji.

Zhou Dasheng didn't listen to his grandfather at this time, and followed Zhang Shikang to the side in desperation. As for Zhang Zhiji, he was even more single:

"Alas, he has grown too powerful and I can't control him anymore." The implication is that his son is already the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp and he can no longer control him.

Zhou Kui could only stand aside and glare.

On the other side, Zhang Shikang said to Zhou Dasheng:

"Brother Zhou, I am right, in your grandfather's eyes, you are not as important as money.

In fact, you shouldn't blame your grandfather. Do you think those nobles donated the money voluntarily?

No, no, they don't have that kind of awareness. If the father is not aware of it, the grandson must be aware of it for him.

You see, the court is in trouble, and we have received the emperor's grace for generations, so we should contribute and even get a good job. What a great thing! You should learn from them."

After saying this, Zhang Shikang said no more, leaving Zhou Dasheng standing there in a daze, frowning, while he ran towards Emperor Chongzhen.

Emperor Chongzhen had long seen Zhang Shikang whispering with Zhou Dasheng, and knew that Zhang Shikang was planning to take over the Earl of Jiading, so he walked away to a deserted place.

"Shikang, I know what you want to do, just forget it." Emperor Chongzhen shook his head.

He knew his father-in-law's character too well. Jiading Earl Zhou Kui was well-known in the capital for his greed and stinginess.

"How could your majesty do this? So many nobles have pledged money, but your majesty is lenient towards your own relatives. How will the other nobles feel?

To be honest with you, Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has too many problems. It is not easy to change the situation. If Your Majesty is going to be lenient even to the Earl of Jiading, I think you should just forget it."

Zhang Shikang was unusually serious, and seemed to have a strong prejudice against the Earl of Jiading.

"Did the Earl of Jiading offend you?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned and asked in confusion.

"No, Your Majesty, this is not the same thing. What is worrying is not the scarcity but the inequality. Your Majesty, please think twice."

Others have donated so much, but you don’t care about your own relatives. Who would be convinced?

The Earl of Jiading did not offend Zhang Shikang, but this does not mean that Zhang Shikang had no prejudice against Zhou Kui.

According to historical records, Emperor Chongzhen held a fundraising event before the fall of his country. At that time, most of the cities in the north of the Ming Dynasty had been captured by Li Zicheng, and the front line had already collapsed.

During that fundraising, Emperor Chongzhen originally wanted Zhou Kui, who was already the Marquis of Jiading at the time, to take the lead. However, Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of the emperor, was extremely stingy. Even when the country was about to perish, he still cried poor and said that his family could only donate two thousand taels at most.

Finally, Queen Zhou couldn't bear it any longer, so she sold some of her jewelry and got five thousand taels of silver to give to her father, hoping that he would consider the overall situation and raise twenty thousand taels of silver to set an example.

However, Zhou Kui embezzled four thousand taels and finally donated only three thousand taels to Chongzhen.

After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he ordered his general Liu Zongmin to torture all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty. Under the threat of death, he actually extorted 70 million taels of silver from them.

As for the father-in-law Zhou Kui, 520,000 taels of silver were found in his house, and there were also hundreds of thousands of taels of other precious treasures and silks.

Zhang Shikang felt resentful for a long time when he read this passage, but it was not because of this that he did not intend to let Zhou Kui go.

Although Zhou Kui was greedy and stingy, at most it was just a matter of a few hundred thousand taels, which was insignificant compared to the overall situation.

What Zhang Shikang cared about was Emperor Chongzhen's attitude towards his relatives. This was very important. The Ming Dynasty had too many problems, and trying to solve many of them would be like scraping the bone to cure the poison.

To put it bluntly, every blow of reform is bound to hit the vested interests. You can't even bring yourself to take action against Zhou Kui now, but there are still two or three hundred thousand royal family members in the Ming Dynasty. If these maggots are not dealt with, they will sooner or later drag down the court.

Zhang Shikang's attitude was very clear. If Emperor Chongzhen was reluctant to take action against his own people, then there would be no need to bother. You lie down, and I lie down too. We can just wait for the Ming Dynasty, this broken ship, to sink.

Emperor Chongzhen was silent for a moment, then said with some hesitation:

"I have been distracted. Nothing is more important than the Ming Dynasty. I can give him some warning, but Shikang, the Earl of Jiading is..."

"Oh! What is your majesty thinking? What we need is his family's money, not his life." Zhang Shikang said speechlessly.

Emperor Chongzhen was now completely relieved, otherwise he really didn't know how to tell Empress Zhou when he returned.

Zhou Dasheng over there went to ask Zhou Kui for help again. No matter how he begged, Zhou Kui was too stingy to give him a penny. Finally, Zhou Dasheng was completely disappointed with his grandfather. He angrily threw his sleeves and ran straight to Emperor Chongzhen.

"Your Majesty! There is a lot of money in my house. My grandfather refuses to wake up. I want to wake up for him!"

……