The Rise of the European Emperor

After the Double Ninth Festival, the autumn harvest is in full swing in the north and south of Ming Dynasty. The entire Ming Dynasty was immersed in the joy of the autumn harvest. This year's autumn harvest, the officials of the Ming Empire are especially happy.

After all, these officials are all landlords. Even if they were poor before, as long as they won the lottery, a large number of villagers would contribute their land, and then the poor scholars would suddenly become landlords. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, as long as you won the imperial examination, you would definitely make a fortune. There have always been only poor scholars, never poor Juren and poor Jinshi. Unless, you pretend to be noble and don't accept land donations from your neighbors.

The family has hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, and when the autumn harvest comes, it is naturally the time for the money and food to be recorded. Therefore, the entire Ming Dynasty was filled with the joy of the autumn harvest.

What's more, Liu Jin has fallen this year, and no one is blackmailing these civil servants...

In the past few years, when Liu Jin was in power, relying on his control over key departments such as the Ministry of Officials, he forced civil officials who returned to Beijing to report on their duties to bribe him. Otherwise, they would be given bad reviews and even sent to border areas as officials. In addition to Liu Jin's "rice penalty", in those few years, many officials were bankrupted by Liu Jin. Therefore, after the downfall of Liu Jin this year, the civil service group was simply overjoyed. From now on, the money they earn will not be "filial" to Liu Jin, but will be put into their own pockets...

By the way, because of Marin's interference, Liu Jin was not cut to pieces like in the original history. Similarly, officials of Liu Jin's party are not as miserable as in the original history.

For example, Zhang Cai, Liu Jin's former strongest horse boy, did not die in prison as in the original history. However, Zhang Cai naturally has no future because of his disgraceful experience of taking refuge in Liu Jin. Although he saved his life, he was demoted as a commoner and never used...

In fact, Zhang Cai is really not a big treacherous person. This guy is a bit lecherous at most, for example, a concubine who always covets other people's beauty. Of course, in ancient times, concubines could also be sent to each other. Su Dongpo even gave away his pregnant concubine to others, but afterwards many people claimed to be Su Dongpo's son...

Liu Jin is not very capable, and his education level is not too high. However, he will employ people. For example, his own cultural level is not high, but he took the memorial back to the mansion and discussed with his sister-in-law Sun Cong and Zhang Wenmian from Huating (equivalent to the master) and others how to deal with it. Then, let Jiao Fang, a bachelor, polish it, and then hand it over to Li Dongyang for review.

And Zhang Cai is the highest-ranking capable person that Liu Jin has wooed. The most famous "rice fine" in Liu Jin's reform was Zhang Cai's idea.

In addition, Zhang Cai is not greedy. Apart from being lustful, she is not too greedy for money. She also persuaded Liu Jin not to accept bribes. Therefore, Zhang Cai is a rather contradictory person. But it is undeniable that this person is a very capable person.

The day Zhang Cai left the capital was very bleak,

There was only one old servant who followed from his hometown, driving Zhang Cai's family out of the capital in a broken carriage that was about to fall apart.

Because he is a sinner, Zhang Cai does not have the treatment of a retired official, and all the privileges he used to enjoy are gone. Even more than half of the family's property was confiscated, leaving only 20 mu of ancestral land that was not confiscated. One can imagine how embarrassing Zhang Cai's life will be in the future.

Ma Lin admired Zhang Cai's talent very much, so he deliberately went out of the city to travel, and on the way, he met Zhang Cai who was returning home in despair.

Although only a few months have passed, Zhang Cai has degenerated from a high-spirited official minister more than a month ago to a submissive old man.

Seeing Ma Lin, Zhang Cai, who had been demoted to a commoner, had no choice but to get out of the car and salute...

Marin stared at Zhang Cai for a long time and asked:

"Master Zhang, would you like to go to Dongfan Island to be an official?"

"For an official?" Zhang Cai's eyes suddenly burst into light.

However, he hesitated:

"However, I am already a sinner. If Ma Guozhu accepts Zhang, I am afraid that he will get into trouble."

"That's not a problem. As long as you are willing to be loyal to me, I can give you 500 acres of fertile land on Dongfan Island and an annual salary of 1,000 taels. In addition, your descendants, as long as they are not too bad, can also be an official with grace! "

Zhang Cai was immediately tempted...

He has almost nothing now, not only has he been demoted to a commoner, but even his two sons have no future. Even now, there are civil officials in the DPRK and China discussing whether Zhang Cai's family should be exiled to Qiongzhou.

If you follow Marin, you can at least be rich and become an official. Once a man gets involved in such things as rights, he can get rid of them better than drugs. Many leaders of later generations were full of vigor when they were in power, but once they retire, they will age quickly. Mainly, the power is in hand, the spirit is high, and the spirit is naturally refreshed. After losing power, it is like an addict who cannot take drugs, feeling extremely uncomfortable, and then aging rapidly.

How could Zhang Cai, who had served as Minister of the Ministry of Officials of the Ming Empire and was about to enter the cabinet half a step away, be willing to be a commoner? Moreover, within the Ming Dynasty, it is unlikely that Zhang Cai will become an official again, because the imperial decree made it clear that Zhang Cai will "never be used", which is tantamount to cutting off his official career.

But to be honest, Zhang Cai is already 56 years old, and he doesn't care much about his career. What he is most worried about now is the future of his two sons. Because he helped Liu Jin deal with Minister Qingliu in the past, and now that Qingliu is in power, Zhang Cai's son must have a hopeless future. Even if you are talented, you will be suppressed. Some people even discussed exiling Zhang Cai's family to Lingnan.

Therefore, for Zhang Cai, being able to be kind to his descendants as an official is what he values ​​most...

Thinking of this, Zhang Cai bowed to Marin without hesitation and said:

"Thanks to the lord's respect, Zhang is willing to do the work of a dog and a horse. But, the imperial court..."

"Look for an inn nearby and wait for my news!" After finishing speaking, Marin threw a small bag of silver to Zhang Cai, enough for his family to stay in the store for many days.

...

The reason why Marin wants to win over Zhang Cai is because Zhang Cai is indeed very capable; in addition, Marin is worried about Kong Tai's ability...

Kong Tai is a translator trained by Marin himself, and was appointed by Marin as the Prime Minister of Dongfan Island. However, after investigating during this period of time, Marin found that Kong Tai only had diplomatic talents, and his governance ability was average. Even, because he admired the Chinese civilization too much, his behavior was a little closer to the pedantic Confucian scholars. Moreover, Kong Tai is still very young and has little experience.

Therefore, seeing that Zhang Cai, a talented person, is no longer wanted, Marin immediately thought of picking up the leak...

You must know that a great talent like Zhang Cai who is very capable but is not wanted by anyone is not always available.

...

But how to take Zhang Cai away without offending the Ming Dynasty? Marin kept thinking on the way back...

After returning to the city, Marin thought for another night before coming up with a countermeasure...

On the second day, Marin came to the Jinwu Guards school grounds to try his luck to see if he could meet Zhengde, but he didn't meet him; on the third day, he didn't meet either; until the fourth day, Marin came to look for "Second General Hum Ha" Masanori who practiced cavalry warfare...

Taking advantage of Zhengde's happy opportunity, Ma Lin suddenly asked Zhengde to take Zhang Cai to Dongfan Island...

"What do you want Zhang Cai for? He is a sinner."

"But he is also a talent. I heard that Liu Jin's 'rice penalty rule' was created by him."

Zhengde nodded and said:

"That's true. I also know that he has talent. However, the civil and military people in the whole court now hate the members of Lao Liu's party. Even if Zhang Cai has talent, I can't use him. If you are a lord of a feudal state, if you dare to use Zhang Cai , it is estimated that the ministers will hate him."

Marin rolled his eyes and said:

"Your Majesty, I heard that the courtiers are discussing whether to exile Zhang Cai's family?"

"That's true, but they couldn't find any evidence of Zhang Cai's evil, so they had to let it go. Moreover, Zhang Cai also refused to plead guilty. I actually wanted to keep him, but the officials were furious, and I couldn't help it Keep him."

| "Why don't you tell me to relegate Zhang Cai's family to Dongfan Island?"

Zhengde was taken aback for a moment:

"It seems... this is also a way..."