allonlinenovel Chapter 286 Who messed with that bastard again?
Chapter 286 Who messed with that bastard again?
Perhaps it was the allure of the flower boats on the Qinhuai River, or perhaps it was because the New Year was approaching, that Chang Heitan and Lan Shi couldn't spare any attention for the two of them. The Chang brothers actually sneaked off to the Qinhuai River.
Good heavens! The pleasure boats on the Qinhuai River don't operate during the day; they only take guests at night. And noble families like the Chang family have a habit of counting the number of people before locking the doors at night. How could the Lan family not find out that the two young masters of the mansion are not at home?
Then, the Chang brothers, who had secretly gone to the Qinhuai River to enjoy themselves with courtesans, were caught by Chang Heitan himself and brought back. They were then hung up and beaten, and the screams made Magistrate Yang think that the Chang family was slaughtering pigs.
And then... and then there was nothing more. The Chang brothers received a mixed doubles beating from Chang Heitan and Lan Shi, and their bruised and swollen faces were not going to fade anytime soon.
Besides, even if the pain completely subsides by the Lantern Festival and the injuries are almost healed, the two unfortunate kids' bodies will definitely not be fully recovered, and it's uncertain whether they will be able to hold on by then.
Thinking of this, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but sigh and said, "The Chang brothers... well, I'll visit them tomorrow before we talk about it."
Seeing Magistrate Yang's worried expression, Chen Zhong felt even more relieved.
You, Magistrate Yang, have finally met your match!
Where did your arrogance go when you asked us to find you wild geese?
Where did that arrogant attitude you had when you were saying you didn't have time?
Get back to normal, we still prefer to see you all cocky and arrogant!
Of course, Chen Zhong was somewhat aware of his own limitations, and he only dared to keep these messy thoughts to himself, without daring to voice them directly to provoke Magistrate Yang.
Once he had felt satisfied, Chen Zhong took out two small bottles from his pocket and handed them to Magistrate Yang: "Minister Yang, His Highness the Crown Prince asked me to bring these to you."
Magistrate Yang took the small bottle, examined it for a few moments, and asked, "What is this?"
Chen Zhong said with a smile, "These two medicine bottles contain medicine for sprains and bruises prescribed by the imperial physician. You can send these two medicines to the Chang residence and have the Chang brothers take them internally and apply them externally."
At this point, Chen Zhong stood up again, cupped her hands in greeting to Magistrate Yang, and said, "Minister Yang, this servant will take her leave now."
Magistrate Yang immediately saw Chen Zhong off with a smile on his face.
Look, look, it has to be my brother-in-law. He's so thoughtful, unlike that old scoundrel Zhu Chongba, who's only thinking about making things difficult for me!
After muttering a few complaints to himself, Magistrate Yang became increasingly displeased.
That old scoundrel Zhu Chongba is a real scoundrel. I was even writing a memorial for him, and he sent some damned eunuch to make things difficult for me!
And then there's Chang Yuchun, that dark-skinned guy. You know, both kids are grown up... Anyway, they've already gone there, and it's the New Year, so a few words of reprimand would have been enough. Why beat them so badly they couldn't get out of bed?
If I didn't know what kind of person you, Chang Heitan, were, I would have suspected that you were doing this on purpose!
After spitting angrily, Magistrate Yang simply went into his study and continued writing his memorial to Emperor Zhu.
You old bastard, you've caused me trouble, so I won't let you get away with this!
"Yang Jin, Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, respectfully submitted a memorial requesting the opening of salt and iron trade markets, the reasons for which..."
"Yang Jin, Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, submitted a memorial proposing reforms to the salt administration, the reasons for which..."
After writing the two memorials in one go, Magistrate Yang didn't even want to wait for the ink to dry naturally. Instead, he gently blew on them to open them, then put them directly into the special envelopes for memorials and sealed them. He then took the envelopes with him and headed straight for the Office of Transmission.
I must use the expedited channel to personally deliver two memorials to Your Majesty, the Zhu Emperor!
……
"Who messed with that bastard again?"
After reading the two memorials sent by the Office of Transmission, Emperor Zhu was completely distraught.
We've already betrothed Jin'er and Yu'er to you, you son of a bitch.
We made you a sixth-rank county magistrate—in such a small county as Ningyang, the magistrate is ranked sixth, just like the magistrate of Qufu, two ranks higher than a bunch of upper-ranking counties, and it's even directly under the Central Secretariat!
We even made you the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, a position with real authority, which is a fifth-rank official position!
If you add the soon-to-be-appointed Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant title to your resume, you scoundrel will immediately transform into a first-rank official who always ranks high in court.
And you're taking three of our salaries!
Haven't we been good enough to you? You send us two memorials right before the New Year!
Emperor Zhu Chongba couldn't help but roar and curse in his heart, but Li Shanchang, sitting on the stool, was already calm and composed.
Tired, destroy it.
I've finally figured it out; neither of these two—father-in-law and son-in-law—is a good person!
They even said someone had messed with that bastard again. Who do you think messed with that bastard?
Of course it was Emperor Zhu who provoked him. After all, all the officials in the court were avoiding him, surnamed Yang. Who would dare to provoke him?
Just as Li Shanchang was secretly grumbling to himself, Emperor Zhu had Chen Zhong hand the two memorials in his hand to Li Shanchang, saying, "Brother Shanchang, could you take a look at these two memorials for me?"
Li Shanchang took the memorial from Chen Zhong and read it through, then frowned deeply.
No wonder, no wonder the Emperor only called me "Old Man" today and didn't call me "Liu Bowen" as usual.
After a long silence, Li Shanchang finally let out a long sigh and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that these two memorials are not suitable to be implemented in their entirety for the time being. Perhaps we should try them out in Hongzhou first."
Emperor Zhu nodded and said, "To be honest, Brother Shanchang, that's what we're thinking too. After all, there are too many things involved here. If we rashly push it aside, I'm afraid it will cause some trouble."
Li Shanchang nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and then tentatively asked, "Sir, regarding the household registration...should we reconsider the household registration matter?"
Upon hearing Li Shanchang's words, Emperor Zhu frowned.
As Ningyang County expands its operations, and now a saltworks is planned for Hongzhou, Shandong, the original household registration system is gradually revealing its drawbacks.
The household registration system flaws that were evident in Shandong actually meant that the same flaws existed throughout the entire Ming Dynasty.
For example, the descendants of artisans must continue to be artisans, the descendants of soldiers must continue to serve in the army, and the descendants of salt-making households must continue to make salt. The restrictions on civilian households are the fewest, but which civilian household would be willing to become a salt-making household?
After a long silence, Emperor Zhu sighed softly and said, "We originally planned to use this household registration system first, and then change it after the Yuan dynasty was completely pacified, but now it seems..."
Li Shanchang also sighed slightly, looking at Emperor Zhu and advising, "Ascend the throne and make changes."
"It's one thing if we didn't discover the flaws in this household registration system before, but now that we have, we should correct them as soon as possible. If we delay, it might become difficult to correct them later, after all..."