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

There is a kind of person who, no matter how good you are to him, or how long this kindness lasts, will immediately forget all the kindness you have shown him and resent you as long as he thinks you have let him down once.

As the old saying goes, a pinch of rice is a token of gratitude, a peck of rice is a token of grudge.

Zhou Dasheng, the grandfather's boy, is one of these people.

At first, he just wanted to prove to Zhang Shikang that he was the most important in his grandfather's eyes. After getting a disappointing answer, Zhou Dasheng had forgotten his original intention. He felt that his grandfather no longer doted on him.

Since his grandfather no longer favors him, he is no longer important to him. He now has to fight for his own future. After all, this is what other nobles do.

"Dasheng, go ahead and talk. I'm listening."

With Zhang Shikang's reminder, Emperor Chongzhen accepted the assist without hesitation and called Wang Chengen over.

"Uncle, my family has more silver cellars than the Marquis of Xining. We have three. My grandfather said that a cunning rabbit has three burrows. My father doesn't even know where the other two silver cellars are, but my nephew knows.

The first silver vault was under the storeroom, the second silver vault’s entrance was under my grandfather’s bed, and the third silver vault was right under the main entrance to the mansion, with the entrance at…

In addition to the silver cellar, there are also many shops. There are three rice shops alone, and..."

As Zhou Kui's most beloved grandson, Zhou Dasheng knew more about the family affairs than even his father. Faced with his grandfather's betrayal, he felt no guilt at all and uncovered all of Zhou Kui's secrets.

Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Wang Chengen, who nodded to indicate that he had taken note of everything. Then Emperor Chongzhen took Zhou Dasheng to question Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui shook his head like a rattle.

"Son-in-law, that's not true. I'm just a small earl. How could I have so many silver vaults? Dasheng is just mad at me!"

Before becoming the queen, Zhou Kui's daughter was just a poor fortune teller in the market, and her words were rather vulgar.

The reason why he dared to do this was because he relied on his status as the father-in-law of the emperor. Although it was a bit embarrassing, he didn't care as long as he didn't have to pay any money.

What else can he do? Is His Majesty going to confiscate his property? He is the father-in-law of the emperor!

He believed that he knew his son-in-law better. Even if he didn't think about himself, he had to consider the Queen. In short, he was fearless.

"Lord Jiading, I will ask you again because you are the father-in-law of the emperor. Is what Dasheng said true?"

Emperor Chongzhen stared into Zhou Kui's eyes and asked coldly.

Zhou Kui felt a little scared when his son-in-law stared at him, and he lowered his head unconsciously. He was a little scared, but after a moment of silence, he still said:

"It's fake. We don't have any money. Where did the silver cellar come from?"

It was the first time that Zhang Shikang had seen someone who valued money more than his life. At this moment, Grandet, Shylock, Harpagon and even Yan Jingsheng pale in comparison to Zhou Kui.

"Wang Daban! You must personally lead people to the Jiading Marquis's residence and search the Zhou family's silver cellar!"

Chongzhen no longer hesitated and spoke coldly to Wang Chengen.

When these words were spoken, the nobles and relatives were all shocked. Although they had all paid a lot of money and the father-in-law did not pay a penny, which made them a little resentful, they also knew that Zhou Kui was the father-in-law of the emperor, and His Majesty would not do anything to his father-in-law even for the sake of face.

But the way Emperor Chongzhen behaves now, he doesn't even take his father-in-law seriously. This... this... this...

Your Majesty... has changed. He can even take action against his father-in-law. Hiss - the nobles looked at each other and suddenly felt a little lucky.

There were also some nobles and relatives who pleaded for mercy, but Emperor Chongzhen was not moved at all.

"I obey the order!" Wang Chengen didn't care what others thought. After Emperor Chongzhen gave the order, he obeyed the order and left the Huangji Hall.

Zhou Kui's beard trembled, he was so angry. Zhou Dasheng seemed to know that he had caused trouble, and hid behind Emperor Chongzhen and dared not look at Zhou Kui.

Wang Chengen was very efficient. About half an hour later, someone came to reply and said that the three silver vaults had been found, but there was too much silver inside and it had not been counted yet.

Zhou Kui's face turned pale all of a sudden. He wanted to stand up, but his legs went weak and he fell to the ground.

"Your Majesty...are you really going to be so heartless?"

Zhou Kui was really heartbroken, but he didn't know whether it was because of his son-in-law's cruelty or because of the family property that he might lose.

Emperor Chongzhen looked gloomy and glanced at Zhou Kui and said:

"I...have given you a chance. Since you said there is no silver cellar at home, then there is none."

The eunuch who came to ask for orders naturally understood the implication of Emperor Chongzhen's words. After paying his respects, he trotted out of the hall.

Zhou Kui was heartbroken and fainted after wailing.

"grandfather!"

Zhou Dasheng rushed over crying, and some nobles and relatives also came forward to check, but Emperor Chongzhen just coldly asked someone to call the imperial physician.

After a while, Zhou Kui was carried away and the hall returned to peace again, but no one was in the mood to eat anymore.

Huaining Marquis Sun Weifan sat at the banquet without saying a word. He had no appetite, but it was not because of Zhou Kui, but because others pledged to donate hundreds of thousands of taels, and some even donated tens of thousands of taels.

But no one knew the situation in his house better than him. If he remembered correctly, there were only a few hundred taels of silver left in the account.

How can I show this? Won't other nobles laugh at me?

The steel-like man just stood there. His colleagues looked at him with mocking expressions from time to time, but Sun Weifan didn't care about it. What made him suffer was that when the court needed him, he was powerless.

After dealing with Zhou Kui's case, Emperor Chongzhen still felt a little upset, but after taking a look at the accounts, his mood immediately improved.

A banquet raised more than 4.6 million taels of silver, which was completely beyond his expectations.

The look in his eyes when he looked at Zhang Shikang was almost full of stars.

At this time, the strong Sun Dasheng walked hesitantly in front of Emperor Chongzhen.

"Your Majesty, I, Sun Dasheng, am donating on behalf of... on behalf of my father." Sun Dasheng knelt on the ground and said with a slight stutter.

Sun Dasheng has his own reasons for waiting until now and keeping a low profile. The donation amounts pledged by other friends are simply too scary.

"Oh? You are the boy from the Huaining Marquis family, right? I've heard about you from Zhang Shikang." Emperor Chongzhen was in a good mood and spoke in a pleasant manner.

Emperor Chongzhen was generally aware of the situation in the Huaining Marquis's Mansion. Huaining Marquis Sun Weifan did not express his anger, as the family was poor to begin with.

He wanted to see what the boy from the Sun family was going to do. The other nobles were also very interested. Huaining Marquis Sun Weifan's heart suddenly rose to his throat.

Sun Dasheng seemed to gain strength after hearing this. He reached into his chest pocket and took out the silver bills. He then took out two silver ingots weighing five taels from his left waist. Then he took out a handful of silver coins from his right waist, which even contained copper coins.

Sun Dasheng looked very serious. He spread out the folded banknotes in front of Emperor Chongzhen, placed the silver ingots and silver coins on top of the banknotes, and said in a proud voice:

"Your Majesty, I pledge on behalf of my father a donation of 25,505.5 taels, 4 qian and 6 fen. This donation is in cash."

As he spoke, Sun Dasheng raised his hands above his head and handed them to Emperor Chongzhen.

All the nobles and relatives laughed when they heard this, laughing at Sun Dasheng's stupidity. Everyone had pledged at least 80,000 or 90,000 taels. You could either keep quiet or pretend that everyone knew you were poor. But you brought out that little bit of shabby silver note, just bringing shame upon yourself, and it's only four cents and six cents. Haha!

But they didn't dare to laugh in front of Huaining Marquis Sun Weifan. Sun Weifan had a bad temper. He was strong and muscular, and it was said that he was good at fighting. It would not be worth it to get punched by him.

Sun Weifan clenched his fists. He didn't care about the ridicule, but he was afraid of being blamed by the emperor. After all, donating the loose change was tantamount to mocking the emperor.

Emperor Chongzhen was not angry. Instead, he looked around at his noble relatives and asked meaningfully:

"Why are you all laughing?"

Seeing that the nobles and relatives did not dare to speak, Emperor Chongzhen said:

"Although the amount pledged by Lord Sun is not much, I can feel their loyalty. I think all the Lords understand the reason.

If all the ministers were like this, why would the court have come to this point?

Think about it carefully.”

As he said this, Emperor Chongzhen stood up, took the silver personally, and handed it to the eunuch beside him to record it in the account.

"Sun Dasheng, you and your father are both great. You have not brought shame to our ancestors. I am very happy." Emperor Chongzhen helped Sun Dasheng up, then looked at Sun Weifan gently and smiled in response.

Sun Dasheng's eyes turned red, and he suddenly grinned and laughed.

For this fundraising, Sun Dasheng donated all his already meager pocket money and was able to collect this much. Now it seems that it was all worth it.

"Sun Weifan, the Marquis of Huaining, is waiting for the title."

No one knew what the other nobles thought when they heard this, but Sun Weifan felt as if he was struck by thunder. He stood up suddenly, and although he was not wearing armor, he made quite a noise.

"I appoint you as the deputy commander of the Beijing Camp. You will assist Zhang Shikang and help me reorganize the Beijing Camp's military equipment."

"Your Highness Sun Weifan, I accept your order and thank you!"

Sun Weifan spoke in a high-pitched voice, unable to conceal his excitement, and his tall body fell to his knees.

He is already 42 years old this year and has waited for this moment for too long.

After expressing his gratitude, Sun Weifan finally felt relieved.

But then a big question mark appeared in his mind.

Where did this brat Sun Dasheng get so much money?

……