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

"He Liansheng? Harmony brings wealth, and unity leads to victory. This is a good name." Taining Marquis Chen Yanzuo nodded.

"We and Liansheng will surely be able to conquer the world and prosper!" said Xining Marquis Song Yude.

"Yes, with my nephew in charge, we will capsize anyone who dares to block our giant ship!" Xincheng Hou Wang Guoxing was also a little excited.

He didn't even go fishing today because of this meeting.

“Since you have chosen me as the person in charge, why not take this opportunity to select the eight assistant managers as well.

The assistant managers will not receive any salary for the time being, as they are making voluntary contributions to us and Liansheng, so the assistant managers must have enough time to work on future business.

Not only that, the assistant manager should also have sufficient prestige, business acumen and good communication skills.

Candidates should be careful, and you should also be careful when you vote."

After Zhang Shikang finished explaining the selection method, more than sixty people began to discuss it in the living room, and many of them were eager to try.

Finally, after half an hour of discussion and voting by raising hands, seven people, including Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen, Duke Yingguo's eldest son Zhang Shize, Marquis Taining Chen Yanzuo, Marquis Xining Song Yude, Marquis Xincheng Wang Guoxing, Marquis Wu'an Zheng Zhijun and the son-in-law of the emperor Gong Yonggu, were passed with a high vote.

However, there was a problem with the eighth assistant manager, as Linhuai Marquis Li Hongji and Xing'an Earl Xu Zhian received the same number of votes.

The two of them almost got into a fight because they both didn't want to give in. Zhang Shikang was very speechless. He was about to exercise his veto power and cast his vote for one of them at random.

At this moment, a young man suddenly walked in from outside the living room.

The young man was exceptionally handsome, in his early twenties, and looked very elegant in a lavender robe.

He was followed by two followers, and the servants of Zhang Shikang's new mansion also followed behind him.

All of his servants were personally selected by Wang Chengen. Not only were they from good families and loyal, but they were also very perceptive.

The fact that the servants did not come to report can only mean two things: one is that they entered by force, and the other is that their identity is noble and has been verified.

And looking at the young man's expression, it was obviously not the former.

"My dear uncles, I couldn't find you all in the whole capital. It turns out that you are all here." After the young man entered the house, he smiled and bowed to everyone present.

"You are the boy from Mu Qiyuan's family, right? Oh, I haven't seen you in these years, you have grown so big!

Come here quickly and let me take a look." Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen stood up and said with a smile.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce him to my nephew Zhang. He is the current Duke of Qian, Mu Tianbo." Xu Yunzhen said to Zhang Shikang.

Zhang Shikang frowned slightly and knew the identity of the young man in front of him.

The first Duke of Qian was the son of Mu Ying, King of Qianning, who guarded Yunnan of the Ming Dynasty for generations. Mu Ying was the adopted son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma.

Needless to say, his military achievements were outstanding. Since Mu Ying was raised by Empress Ma, the lineage of the Duke of Qian was extremely loyal to the Zhu family.

Especially the last Duke of Qian. After his brother Chongzhen hanged himself, the last Duke of Qian followed the small Southern Ming court.

Even when the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty was chased to Burma by the Qing army, the last Duke of Qian still swore to follow him to the death. Finally, he was abducted by the Burmese soldiers during the Curse Water Incident, and he resisted to his death with a knife.

And if Zhang Shikang remembered correctly, the young man in front of him was the last Duke of Qian.

"My dear nephew Mu, this is Zhang Shikang, the current Grand Marshal of the Army and Marquis of Champion." Xu Yunzhen introduced him to Mu Tianbo.

"So you are the Marquis of Guanjun. I have heard of your name for a long time. Last year's performance really shocked me. It must be a blessing for the people of the world." Mu Tianbo bowed to Zhang Shikang.

"Not worth mentioning." Zhang Shikang waved his hands repeatedly, and then asked:

"Duke Qian is not guarding Yunnan, so why did he come to the capital?"

"Oh, I'm here in the capital to report on my work. The last time I came, the capital was full of begging refugees. I never thought that three years later, the capital has changed so much." Mu Tianbo sighed.

The lineage of the Duke of Qian is somewhat different from other nobles in the capital. It shoulders the important task of guarding the southwestern border and is one of the few powerful figures in the Ming Dynasty who holds military power alone.

Precisely because of the different responsibilities, the Duke of Qian had to report to the capital every three years. Of course, the person he was reporting to was not the Ministry of War or the Ministry of Revenue, but the current emperor.

At the same time, every time the Duke of Qian came to the capital, he would take the opportunity to get together with other nobles and relatives in the capital. After all, they were all nobles and relatives, and the Duke of Qian lived in a remote area. If the old friendship was not maintained, it would fade.

"That's right, Nephew Mu, you know that Nephew Zhang is very capable. He used a little trick to take away nearly five million taels from us.

Oh, I remember that after you learned about this, you also donated a lot of money to His Majesty." Chen Yanzuo said.

"I eat the emperor's food, share his worries, and when the country is in trouble, this is what a subject should do." Mu Tianbo said humbly.

After learning about the fundraising campaign in the capital, he sold part of the property of the Duke of Qian's Mansion and donated more than 300,000 taels of silver together with the cash in his family.

"You are quite foresighted! To be honest, I regretted it so much that I couldn't sleep for many days.

Now it seems that if it weren’t for nephew Zhang Xian kicking me from behind, I might not be able to sit here now! "

Xining Marquis Song Yude said without reservation.

After some greetings, Mu Tianbo and Zhang Shikang started chatting about the recent comprehensive reform of the imperial court.

Compared with other nobles around him who only wanted to make money from maritime trade, Mu Tianbo was still concerned about the court. He asked Zhang Shikang about the parts of the reform policy that he did not understand.

After getting Zhang Shikang's answer, Mu Tianbo couldn't help but respect Zhang Shikang.

Different from the civil officials' concerns about the imbalance between civil and military affairs and excessive power, Mu Tianbo was a military commander after all, and he knew that in such troubled times, having a strong military commander was definitely not a bad thing for the people of the world.

And according to the newly revised military system, Mu Tianbo, who was guarding the Yunnan border, should be affiliated with the Huben Army and was also under the control of Zhang Shikang.

There had been rumors among the people before that Champion Marquis Zhang Shikang was arrogant and domineering, but now it seems that all of these are fallacies. Mu Tianbo himself also supports the court's subsequent reforms, believing that if they can be done well, they will be good policies that will benefit the national economy and the people's livelihood.

Zhang Shikang informed Mu Tianbo of what they had discussed. Although Mu Tianbo felt that the court's focus at this time should still be on solving the problem of bandits and the threat from the north.

But developing business is also very necessary, so the Mu family also said that they want to participate.

"Since the Duke of Qian is also joining, I think there is no need for the two of you to fight. The eighth assistant member will be the Duke of Qian.

Who is in favor and who is against? "

Zhang Shikang said this while looking at Linhuai Hou and Xing'an Bo who were still attacking each other.

……