Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 82: Stealing the Second Person

Is it very likely that he will win the first prize in the competition?
Zhang Yifan was a little surprised when he heard this statement, and quickly asked: "Who is it?"

If the world does not understand him and despise him now, then at least there is still a Korean prince there.No matter what, he is the eldest son of the most important figure in the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Even if he has a tiger father and a dog son, he will not be particularly bad.

But this person is favored by others, and they say he can win the first prize in the competition. Doesn't that mean that even Li Qi can't compare with him?

To be honest, Zhang Yifan was a little curious. Who could this person be? He actually interfered and became the second person to steal a bride?
"Mei Yin, the nephew of Runan Hou Mei Sizu, named Boyin, is from Guide Xiayi. He is the same age as you and the eldest princess, and he is known as a child prodigy!"

Mei Yin, nephew of Runan Hou Mei Sizu?

The name sounded familiar to Zhang Yifan. After thinking about it for a moment, he finally remembered it.This Mei Yin was also Zhu Yuanzhang's son-in-law, second son-in-law, and Empress Ma's direct son-in-law in history.According to records, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict praising Mei Yin for his mastery of classics and history, and everyone was proud of him.

But this man's end was not very good. It's a pity that he was not from Jiangnan. Otherwise, if he knew water, he might not have drowned!But it's hard to say that if you have any objections to Zhu Di being emperor, you won't be drowned, you may be burned to death.

Zhang Yifan was thinking about this and was a little confused. Why did this man come to snatch his wife from him without waiting for her?
Although this man was highly praised in history, Zhang Yifan was not afraid of him.No matter what, he has more than 700 years of knowledge!
However, the one who should have the biggest headache when this person appears should be the one from the Li family!

………………

Zhang Yifan's guess was correct. When he got the news, the Korean government also got the news, and he immediately had a headache.

The core members of the Li family had to gather again to discuss countermeasures.

Li Qi, the client, was heard complaining: "It was good at first. It was easy to beat that damn boy, but it turned out to be bad. Hu Weiyong did it, and Mei Yin also got involved. What should I do?"

Calling him by his first name means not showing any respect at all.

This made Hu Weiyong's niece-in-law, Li You, a little embarrassed when he heard this.But he can also understand his cousin's mood. It is indeed Hu Weiyong who has caused trouble!
On Li Shanchang's side, when he heard his son's complaint, his face was also gloomy.

Because he knew very well what level his son's talent was.It was more than enough to be better than the country boy whose even words were as ugly as chicken claws. However, Mei Yin had been known as a child prodigy since she was a child, and was praised by many great scholars.

It would be difficult for his son to defeat Mei Yin!
Originally, even if talented people wanted to compete with his son, he was actually not afraid. Using his influence, he could completely exclude these people.However, Mei Yin's background is not small, his uncle is the Marquis of Runan, and it is hereditary, so it is not something he can handle casually.

After a moment of silence, Li Shanchang said slowly: "Your advantage is that you have rich experience and are better at governing the country than them. Didn't the princess say that she wants to marry the person who can best help His Majesty? Then spread the news Go out, create a situation, and force the world to think that if you don't take the strategy of running the country and ensuring peace during the palace examination, you are not considered talented and unworthy of being His Majesty's consort!"

He himself is a capable person in this area. Li Qi followed him, and even if he was influenced by his ears and eyes, he still believed that he was definitely better than those two boys who were both 16 years old!
That Mei Yin, even if he is known as a child prodigy, the way to govern a country and secure the country still requires experience. Moreover, his uncle is only a leader in fighting, what can he teach him?
"Brother, this is a good idea!" After hearing this, Li Cunyi nodded quickly and said, "In this way, we can guarantee victory and make people stop gossiping!"

So, the Li family followed this strategy.

They didn't know that the secret agents stationed in the Korean government's government about their actions had passed the news to the imperial court.

After Zhu Yuanzhang learned about it, he was naturally considering this matter.

For a long time, he has not announced what questions will be asked in the palace examination.

Originally, he was going to side with the Li family and eventually wanted to marry his daughter to that Li Qi.However, first the boy from Liujiacun actually wrote a good article that he urgently needed, which invisibly helped him a big favor.

Regarding this matter, he has secretly verified that there is indeed no possibility of anyone else writing this article.

In addition, he had some consideration for Zhu Jingjing's factors.Therefore, the balance in his heart became a little more balanced, and he no longer placed so much emphasis on Zhu Jingjing's marriage.

Now that he knows what the Li family has done, to be honest, he is not happy.Because Li Shanchang used his ability to influence him, which was considered a way to deal with him.

If you want to be so sure, I am not as good as you want!Let you know that I am not a scheming person!

This is the change in Zhu Yuanzhang's thinking.

Also, that Mei Yin is Song Lian's student, he has seen it before, and he likes this Mei Yin very much.No matter in terms of demeanor and temperament, or in terms of literary level, it meets Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations for talented scholars!

It's just that he didn't expect that Mei Yin also signed up to participate in the selection of the son-in-law.If it wasn't for Zhu Jingjing who was already robbing him, he would really choose him as his son-in-law.

But in the current situation, Mei Yin has also joined the ranks of being the prince-consort. To be honest, he is a little confused.Marriage with the hero to stabilize the imperial rule; love for talents; daughter's feelings, etc., are intertwined.Coupled with Li Shanchang's careful thinking, Mei Yin was considered a marriage of meritorious officials, and Zhang Yifan did have a certain talent. These factors were mixed together, and finally, Zhu Yuanzhang made a decision.

........................

On this day, Zhang Yifan was tinkering with quills and finally made three suitable ones. The person from Prince Yan's Mansion who reported the news arrived.

"Something big happened in the court today!"

Zhang Yifan was a little curious and asked, "What's the big deal?"

“When the yamen in various places submitted money, food, financial revenue and expenditure, and tax accounts to the Ministry of Household Affairs, they used empty books with official seals in advance. His Majesty was furious when he heard the report. He has ordered a thorough investigation to arrest the chief seal officials and deputies of each place to Beijing. It is said that the chief seal official was beheaded, and his deputy was sent to the army with a hundred sticks."

As soon as he heard this, Zhang Yifan knew that the Kongyin case, one of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty, had broken out.

There was actually a lot of discussion about this matter in later generations, and he happened to be paying attention to it.

In his opinion, why did this empty seal case happen in the ninth year of Hongwu?This is actually a problem!

Because according to legend, the practice of empty printing has been around since the Yuan Dynasty, and it has been done as a matter of convention.This means that the Hongwu Dynasty has always done this.

So here comes the question, how could Zhu Yuanzhang not discover this kind of thing until the ninth year of Hongwu?
Also, there was a person named Zheng Shili who wrote a letter later and explained the whole story clearly. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was still furious and seemed to be very unreasonable. He even arrested those who had been let go and took this letter with him. Zheng Shili was arrested and sent to a labor camp.

One explanation from later generations is that Zhu Yuanzhang hated corrupt officials so much that he went to extremes.

However, in Zhang Yifan's opinion, just talking about Zhu Yuanzhang in this way is definitely a bit shallow.

Who is Zhu Yuanzhang?

He started out as a beggar and a monk, fought his way through the late Yuan Dynasty, and finally became the founding emperor.If he was prone to extremes and didn't know how to adapt, could he become the founding emperor?
Therefore, in Zhang Yifan's opinion, Zhu Yuanzhang is definitely not a hysterical person.There are definitely some unknown secrets behind this empty seal case.

Combined with the Hu Weiyong case that happened later, and the news that Zhang Yifan kept getting through the Yan Palace after coming to the Hongwu Dynasty, he speculated that the empty seal case was ultimately related to Zhu Yuanzhang's stabilization of the Zhu family dynasty.

This is not to say that corruption destroyed the Ming Dynasty, but to frighten Hu Weiyong, or to declare the emperor's power.Otherwise, if it was just corruption, Zheng Shili had already explained it clearly, but why would he still be so hysterical that some people in later generations would think Zhu Yuanzhang was a lunatic?
In the Kongyin case, all the people killed were actually local officials.When these local officials went to the capital, they would pay homage to Hu Weiyong, the prime minister.This must have reached a certain level and exceeded Zhu Yuanzhang's endurance, so he would use the empty seal case to deal with it.

After all, this is actually a kind of struggle between prime minister power and imperial power, but this first time, it is the local officials who suffer.A few years later, Zhu Yuanzhang directly overturned the table and eliminated the position of prime minister.

For now, this empty seal case has little to do with Zhang Yifan, so he just listened to it and didn't care too much. After all, the day of the imperial examination was coming soon.No matter what, he must be well prepared, otherwise, Zhu Di will castrate him!

After dealing with Zhu Di for a long time, Zhang Yifan understands that he is a person who definitely does what he says!
No, just the day before the palace test, Zhang Yifan even stayed in an inn in the city.After all, Liujia Village is a little far away from Nanjing City, thirty miles away.

In the era of cars in later generations, he was there with just a push of the accelerator, but in this era, his mode of transportation was just a donkey in the village, for fear of delaying things.

As an outsider, he is not suitable to live in the Yan Palace, but Zhu Wu and the others still accompany him.

As night fell, Zhang Yifan had dinner early and was ready to rest.

However, before he could rest, he suddenly heard movement from next door.One of them had a very familiar voice, a worried one.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Yifan remembered that they were indeed acquaintances.Listening to the movement, it seems that he has encountered a huge difficulty.

It's fine if you don't know, since you heard it, no matter what, you have to go over and ask about the situation.

So, he took Zhu Wu and the others out of the door and knocked on the door next door.

"Blah blah blah..."

The knock on the door made the movement inside suddenly quiet, and then a person shouted "Who is it?" and opened the door.

(End of this chapter)