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

In order to help his father advance himself, Sun Dasheng secretly sold all of his family's heirloom swords.

Later, when Sun Weifan learned about the situation, he beat Sun Dasheng severely, smashed the pawnshop single-handedly, and snatched the sword back.

Who would have known that the person behind the pawnshop was actually Taining Marquis Chen Yanzuo.

Chen Yanzuo came to his door and Sun Weifan was in the wrong again. Including the money for the sword, the compensation for the damage to the pawnshop and the medical expenses of the clerk he injured, Sun Weifan and his son were in debt of 20,000 taels.

Twenty thousand taels was like adding insult to injury for the already impoverished Huaining Marquisate.

Later, Chen Yanzuo's youngest son Chen Tao also joined the army and joined the Second Sons' Regiment.

Sun Dasheng once saved Chen Tao during a war. Chen Yanzuo was grateful and offered to not pay back the money.

Twenty thousand taels of silver is a huge sum of money for an ordinary family, but for Marquis Taining, who is good at business and has a rich family background, it is not worth mentioning.

But who was Sun Weifan? He was a man of integrity and had never bowed his head. He simply refused to agree and said that it was only natural to pay back debts.

Therefore, for the past three years, the father and son have not returned to the Huaining Marquis Mansion, but have lived in the Xishan camp for many years.

In addition to saving money on food, they also no longer had to hire servants. For nearly three years, the father and son used their salaries to pay off their debts.

Especially after the court increased the salaries of officials, the two of them repaid their debts much faster. In addition, they had spoils of war in every war, and this time Emperor Chongzhen rewarded them with a full 5,000 taels of silver, so they were finally debt-free.

"Dad, we two must have a drink tonight!" Sun Wukong also said while hugging his father.

"We must drink! Let's go back to the mansion and hire a cook. Oh, we have to worship our ancestors first!

Our Sun family not only has a new duke, but you also have a hereditary title!

Alas, it's all dad's fault. He should have had another child. Now you're the only one, and two titles are wasted!"

……

The father and son were whispering to each other, and Zhang Shikang took the opportunity to say to his elder brother Chongzhen:

"Your Majesty, Marquis Polu and Marquis Fenwu have just arrived in the capital and have not found a place to stay. There should be many vacant mansions in the capital. Can you give them two?"

Of course, he was talking about his future father-in-law Ma Xianglin and future cousin Qin Yiming.

Emperor Chongzhen frowned when he heard this, seeming somewhat reluctant, but because Ma Xianglin and the other man were nearby, he nodded and agreed.

After the awards were presented, the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings for a while, and then Emperor Chongzhen led his ministers back.

After bidding farewell to his brother Chongzhen, Qin Yiming followed Wang Chengen to choose a house, while Zhang Shikang took Ma Xianglin and Ma Lingqi, father and daughter, to the Duke of Yingzhou's mansion.

Zhang Zhiji and his wife also knew that their son would return to Beijing today, so they started preparing for the dinner early in the morning.

Sun was the busiest. She instructed the kitchen to buy Zhang Shikang's favorite dishes, and asked the old housekeeper to have someone clean Zhang Shikang's bedroom again.

Ever since his son entered the court, he has returned home less and less each year.

Fortunately, my son did not forget to find women while pursuing his career. Although he has not yet started a family, he has eight daughters-in-law and four granddaughters.

It is said that grandparents are closer to their grandchildren. Sun not only dotes on his son, but also loves his grandchildren and even his daughter-in-law very much.

Every three to five days, Sun would take the eldest son's wife and a group of the third son's wives out for a trip. When they came across pickled products and accessories for women, no matter how expensive they were, Sun would not mind spending the money and would just buy them.

Since the British prince Zhang Zhiji fell in love with fishing, he went fishing everywhere with Xincheng Hou Wang Guoxing all day long.

Zhang Shize has been busy with business since he became the assistant manager of He Liansheng. Although sea trade has not yet started, there is still a lot of preparatory work to do.

Silk workshops, porcelain workshops, and glass workshops that may be taken over from the General Manufacturing Administration in the future. This year he also made a special trip to Jiangnan, Yunnan and Guizhou in order to find reliable and high-quality tea merchants.

Although Zhang Shize was only one of the eight assistant managers of He Liansheng, he was the elder brother of Zhang Shikang. In the absence of Zhang Shikang, the person in charge, the other seven assistant managers basically followed Zhang Shize's opinions.

Now, after more than a year of preparation, almost everything is ready, except for the east wind.

When the armed merchant ship that Zhang Shikang ordered from the French arrives in the middle of next year, they can set sail.

There will be a lot of money to be made at that time. They have been waiting for that day for half a year.

This is how the British mansion is. It is not overly bound by feudal etiquette, and women can also go out shopping occasionally. In short, those who go fishing go fishing, those who make money make money, and those who spend money spend money.

However, Zhang Shikang did not tell his parents in the letter that he had found another wife.

So when Zhang Shikang brought Ma Xianglin and his son to the Duke of Yingguo's mansion to rest for a while, Zhang Zhiji and Sun were really caught off guard.

"Dad, Mom, let me introduce you two. This is the newly promoted Marquis of Po Lu, the hereditary envoy of Shi Que, the General of the Cavalry, and my future father-in-law, Ma Xianglin."

Ma Xianglin quickly bowed to Zhang Zhiji, and Zhang Zhiji immediately returned the greeting. Sun was also very friendly.

"What? Future father-in-law?" Zhang Zhiji was stunned for a moment and blurted out.

Zhang Shikang just talked a lot of nonsense, so much so that Zhang Zhiji, who was known for his quick thinking, was unable to react.

Zhang Zhiji's words immediately made Sun react.

"Hey, this is Ma Lingqi, the daughter of the Borbo family."

Zhang Shikang chuckled and didn't point it out, but the people present were not stupid. Zhang Zhiji was okay. While greeting Ma Xianglin warmly, he let everyone into the living room of the Duke's Mansion.

Sun immediately turned on the observer mode. Although she looked at Ma Lingqi with a smile on her face, her eyes didn't even move, but she had already looked Ma Lingqi up and down.

As they walked in, Sun asked Ma Lingqi about her well-being. Ma Lingqi knew that this was her future mother-in-law, and her shy little face turned red.

Zhang Shikang became a idler. After saying hello to his brother and younger sister, he quietly slipped back to his own yard.

Chen Yuanyuan's eight daughters were chatting in the living room of his courtyard. There were four cradles on one side of the living room, and several maids were gently rocking them.

Zhang Shikang walked over quietly and hugged Kou Baimen who was talking, which scared the girls.

When they saw that it was Zhang Shikang, they all stood up happily. Zhang Shikang gave each of his eight wives a hug and then walked over to the cradle:

"Let me see my baby girls.

This doll should be my eldest daughter Qiyue, right?"

"Replying to the Third Young Master, this is Qiwen."

"Oh, then this should be Qi Ling, for sure!"

Zhang Shikang pointed to the youngest one and said, "The fourth daughter, Zhang Qiling, was born last. Zhang Shikang was very sure of that."

"Replying to the Third Young Master, that is Qi Xue."

……