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

Zhu Zhengliang’s father is naturally the current Duke of Chengguo, Zhu Chunchen.

The ancestors of the Zhu family were also heroes. When their ancestor Zhu Neng followed Emperor Wen in the Jingnan Rebellion, he was the first one to attack the city of Nanjing.

Zhu Neng fought at the front and was the bravest among the three armies. He was eventually granted the title of Duke by Emperor Wen, a title that was hereditary and he was also entitled to be enshrined in the Taimiao after his death.

Zhang Shikang naturally knew that Zhu Neng could indeed be considered a hero, but more than two hundred years had passed and his descendants had become cowards.

During the Chongzhen reign, the last Duke of Chengguo, Zhu Chunchen, was always trusted by Emperor Chongzhen. Even before Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng, the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang was handed over to him and he was asked to take the Crown Prince and flee to Nanjing.

After all, Nanjing is the second capital of the Ming Dynasty, and it has always had a team of officials that is exactly the same as that in Beijing.

As long as the crown prince was there, even if Emperor Chongzhen died, the Ming Dynasty could have been seamlessly connected, and would not have ended up like later, with many princes vying to be emperor and ruling their own territories, leading to the rapid demise of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Chunchen, on the other hand, had enjoyed the emperor's favor for more than two hundred years and was entrusted with an important task by Emperor Chongzhen. However, he took the initiative to open the city gate and handed the crown prince over to Li Zicheng.

Therefore, Zhang Shikang had no good impression of Zhu Chunchen at all, and his words were even more impolite.

When Sun Dasheng heard that his elder brother was venting his father's anger, he was naturally very excited and felt that the beating he received the day before was not in vain.

With great things to come and a victory won, everyone was naturally excited. However, the owner of Chen's Restaurant was not so happy.

Today's business is considered to be ruined. Not only that, the restaurant was smashed and looted. Not only did it suffer serious financial losses, but it is estimated that it will not be able to operate for the next few days.

But the shopkeeper did not dare to step forward to ask for an explanation, as he was afraid that these young men would beat him up too.

The shopkeeper just stood at the door of the store, looking so pitiful, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

"You can calculate the losses today and go to the Duke of Ying's Mansion to seek reimbursement from my father and say that it was the sixth son of the Zhu family who started it.

If you dare to falsify the accounts, I will burn down your store next time."

Zhang Shikang could see what the shopkeeper was thinking. If he remembered correctly, the real boss behind this restaurant was Zhou Kui, Earl of Jiading, who was also the father-in-law of the current emperor.

The Earl of Jiading is not a good person either. He is well-known in the capital for his greed and stinginess.

The shopkeeper was just an employee. If he couldn't get compensation, Zhou Kui would naturally not let him go.

Everyone agreed that before tomorrow's curfew, they would hand over the specific donation amount to Zhang Shikang, and then say goodbye one by one at the door of the restaurant.

It was almost evening when Zhang Shikang returned home. As soon as he got off the carriage, he saw two people acting suspiciously not far away, as if they were following him.

In fact, Zhang Shikang saw him when he went out, but it seemed that the person was different.

"Hey, what are you two doing? Why are you staring at my house? Don't you know that this is the Duke's Mansion?"

As Zhang Shikang was about to go over and ask, he was stopped by the old steward of the Zhang Mansion.

"Third Young Master, be careful with your words. Those two must be officers from the Imperial Guard. Don't be rude!"

"Jinyiwei? Wasn't it said that His Majesty had already abolished them along with the Eastern Depot?" Zhang Shikang looked puzzled.

He read a lot of novels from the late Ming Dynasty. Most of them said that Emperor Chongzhen was deceived by civil officials and abolished the imperial guards soon after he ascended the throne, and became blind from then on.

"Sir, who told you that? Be careful with your words. Come on, come on, Sir, please come into the mansion."

The old butler was startled and quickly pulled Zhang Shikang in, not forgetting to salute the two men.

"It seems that the rumors are wrong." Zhang Shikang muttered to himself.

When he saw his father, Duke of England Zhang Zhiji was lying leisurely in the pavilion and talking to Zhang Shize, and they were mostly talking about business.

Zhang Shikang then asked about the factory guards.

"The authority of the Eastern Investigation Bureau has been greatly reduced. The Jinyiwei is definitely not involved. However, the year before last, Your Majesty listened to the advice of that group of civil officials and eliminated a lot of redundancies."

Zhang Zhiji said casually.

"I just ran into the Jinyiwei at the gate of the mansion. They have been waiting at the gate for the whole day.

There are also guards in the Dingguo Mansion, but when I passed by Liu Mansion just now, I didn't see anyone watching. Why is that?"

After hearing this, Zhang Zhiji sat up from the recliner. He did not answer Zhang Shikang's question, but asked:

"Why do you think Dad didn't want to argue with the civil officials and get involved in the Three Taxes issue?"

In the morning, he was very relieved about Zhang Shikang's desire to make progress, but he heard that as soon as he left, Zhang Shikang went back to eating, drinking and having fun with that group of young masters.

Zhang Zhiji smelled the alcohol on his son and felt relieved.

"Because dad is lazy and afraid of trouble?"

"Shikang, you can't talk about your father like that." Zhang Shize, who was sitting nearby, said unhappily.

Although this younger brother had been acting weird before, at least he didn't dare to talk to his father like that. Zhang Shize always felt that something was wrong.

But Zhang Zhiji was not angry, instead he smiled slightly bitterly:

"That's about right. Only if Dad doesn't fight or compete, you can go out and play in peace."

Zhang Zhiji didn't say more, and there was no need to say anything. He had never had high expectations for his youngest son. As long as he lived happily and had peace throughout his life, that would be enough.

But Zhang Shikang was no longer the playboy he used to be, so how could he not understand the hidden meaning of his father's words?

Today, these nobles look glamorous, but they do not have much power in their hands, and the court has long been dominated by civil officials.

Even the Jinyiwei dared to treat people differently, keeping a strict watch on the nobles and turning a blind eye to the high-ranking cabinet officials.

The game between civil officials and military generals had completely ended by the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the idea that military generals were half a level inferior to civil officials had become deeply rooted in people's minds.

To put it bluntly, as long as the nobles do not discuss state affairs or oppose them, they will still be the high and mighty dukes.

"Grandma's legs, I will change this situation sooner or later."

Zhang Shikang swore angrily.

Zhang Zhiji smiled. He didn't intend to discourage his son. He would take care of everything anyway, so he changed the subject and said:

"I heard that you had a fight with Zhu Zhengliang again?"

"How did Dad know so quickly? But don't worry, I didn't suffer any loss this time."

Zhang Zhiji said nothing. It was a tradition for the younger generation to have a little fight with each other. However, the eldest brother Zhang Shize frowned:

"Is nothing wrong?"

"It's okay, it's okay. Zhu Zhengliang was slightly injured, just a broken leg."

Zhang Zhiji suddenly sat up from the recliner.

At this time, there was a commotion outside the Duke of Yingguo's mansion, and the roar of Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen could be heard from a distance. Zhang Shikang suddenly felt something was wrong, and said to his father in grievance:

“It was an accident, who knew Zhu Zhengliang’s legs would break so easily.

He also hit me on the back of the head with a club. I feel like my brain is broken. I can’t remember some things recently. Son…”

Zhang Zhiji originally wanted to scold him, but after hearing what his son said, he immediately changed his tone.

"Don't be afraid, my son. No one can hurt you as long as your father is here!"

Having said that, Zhang Zhiji rushed to the front yard of the mansion in a hurry.

At the gate of the Duke of Ying's Mansion, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen, with five or six strong servants, was confronting the servants of the Duke of Ying's Mansion.

Li Pengjie, the old butler of the Duke of England's mansion, had an apologetic look on his face and kept saying nice things.

Zhu Chunchen was not that good-tempered. He was so angry that he was about to order his servants to force their way in.

"Hahaha, what's the matter, brother Shi? Why did you bring a servant with you to see me?"

Zhang Zhiji looked like a good brother who hadn't seen each other for a long time, and greeted him with a smile.

"Zhang Zhiji, don't give me that. Your son broke my son Zhengliang's legs in the street today!

How big a grudge do you have to have such a heavy hand? You must give me an explanation today!"

Zhu Chunchen didn't even bother to be polite. Seeing his son lying on the bed with sweat all over his face due to pain, Zhu Chunchen just felt angry.

Zhu Zhengliang told Zhu Chunchen about the situation at that time, and Zhu Chunchen was furious after hearing it.

"Is this true? My son was hit by your Zhengliang a few days ago. Brother Shi, do you know about this?

My son has been complaining about his headache these past two days and can't remember what happened before. My brother is also worried about this.

A broken leg can be reattached, but how do you heal a broken head, brother Shi?

I am also worried about this! But it is inevitable that children and nephews will have some conflicts, and I am embarrassed to bother you for this."

Zhang Shikang, who was eavesdropping behind the gate of the mansion, was secretly amazed. He thought that his father was really good at speaking. He was able to steal the show, turn the tables, retreat in order to advance, and finally become a general.

No, his acting skills are even better. Zhang Shikang feels that he needs to learn more from his father.

"Zhang Lao Er! Are you speaking human language?

Do you know what your son calls me?

"Dog Father! He calls me Dog Father!"

Zhu Chunchen almost shouted, he was really angry, even angrier than if his son had broken his leg.

"Uncle Zhu, this is unfair. You are not my father, how could I call you like that? This is absolutely not the case!"

Zhang Shikang stuck his head out of the door and said.

When Zhu Chunchen saw Zhang Shikang, his hands began to shake with anger. He pointed at Zhang Shikang and said:

"You little bastard, you're so cruel, get out here!"

"Brother Shi, Brother Shi, please calm down.

Didn’t I just say that my son was hit on the head by Zhengliang and has some problems? Don’t bother with this junior.

How about this? I'll pay for Zhengliang's leg treatment, and I'll find a good doctor. Otherwise, I'll go find the imperial physician."

When he heard about silver, Zhang Shikang blinked and blurted out:

"Yes, we will pay the money. My family has 200,000 or 300,000 taels of silver. Even if Sixth Brother breaks both of his legs, he still won't be able to spend it all!"

Zhang Zhiji's beard twitched, and he thought to himself whether this brat was really out of his mind, why did he reveal all his family assets? Wouldn't this irritate Zhu Laosan even more?

Sure enough, Zhu Chunchen got furious when he heard that.

"You little bastard! Is that about money? Three hundred thousand taels is nothing! I have some in my house too.

Come out and let me break your legs, and your uncle will heal you well!"

Zhang Shikang was overjoyed when he heard this, and actually walked out. However, he did not look at Zhu Chunchen, but searched for the two Jinyiwei spies.

There were many people outside, and it took a while to find the two people outside the crowd. Zhang Shikang even winked at them, meaning:

"You two both heard it, right? Duke Cheng said three hundred thousand taels is nothing."

……