Zhang Rong's father's name is Zhang Jinjie, who is the right minister of the Daning Dynasty and the secretary of the Ministry of Shangshu, and is the second minister after Uncle Shen, in fact, if Uncle Shen does not have the factor of the imperial family, then Zhang Jinjie should be the number one minister.

Regardless of qualifications and background, Uncle Shen Guo is one level lower than Zhang Jinjie, and in terms of the real power of the central government, Uncle Shen Guo has the financial power, but Zhang Jinjie has the power to draft decrees and the power to appoint and dismiss officials, Uncle Shen Guo obviously cannot be compared with Zhang Jinjie, but in terms of local power, Zhang Jinjie is much inferior to Uncle Shen Guo.

Zhang Jinjie is more than 50 years old this year, his father is the former prime minister Zhang Jiayi, he himself was 20 years old in the Jinshi Tanhua, starting from the county order, step by step to achieve the Zhongshu order, the official department of the book, the qualifications are extremely strong.

Zhang Jinjie is of medium stature, and from the outside, he is even a little thin and weak, and he does not look good, but he is extremely shrewd, and any movement in the court cannot hide from his eyes.

Zhang Jinjie has two sons and two daughters, both daughters are married, the eldest son Zhang Qun, the official Chen Liujun Assassin Shi, and the second son Zhang Rong, who is the county magistrate of Weiyang County.

Today Zhang Jinjie is unwell, so he went home at noon to rest, during this time there is no major event in the imperial court's government affairs, but the power struggle is ups and downs, Zhang Jinjie knows very well in his heart that the fuse of this power struggle is the East Palace tax and silver into Beijing, and the middle is wrapped in the tiger charm case.

The two things seem to be unconnected from each other, but if you pay close attention, there is still a little connection between them, that is, the king of Lanling County appeared in Yanshi County and became the final cover for the taxes of the East Palace.

And the Tiger Fu case, the king of Lanling happened to appear in it, and he was a key figure, so that the middle was a little famous, Zhang Jinjie judged according to his decades of political experience, he believes that the core of the power struggle these days is actually the competition for the power of the Liang Wang family.

Whether it is Uncle Shen's assassin to force Daila, or the prince's enthusiasm for the Tiger Fu case, he is actually trying to pull the forces of the Liang Wang family into his camp and use them for his own use.

Zhang Jinjie also admitted that the power of the Liang Dynasty is indeed exciting, and the 200,000 Western Liang army has always been firmly in the hands of the three generations of the Liang Wang's father and son-in-law, and it is the guarantee that the western frontier of the Daning Dynasty can be stabilized, and it is also the only army that is not directly controlled by the current emperor.

The crown prince and the king of Chu, no matter who gets the support of King Liang's forces, is the most powerful step for them to win the throne, but what about the emperor's attitude?

Zhang Jinjie noticed that the emperor did not express his position from beginning to end, and even stayed out of the way, which made Zhang Jinjie feel weird, not participating is actually an attitude, and he is a cold sidestander.

Until early this morning, the inner court suddenly came out with a will, and Huangfu, the grandson of the king of Lanling County, was not promoted to the Duke of Liangguo, and Zhang Jinjie suddenly realized that the emperor had finally made a move.

The emperor is warning Uncle Shen and the crown prince that no one is allowed to fight the idea of the Helong army, but the king of Lanling County has only one grandson, the son of Huangfu Zhuo and Huangfu Wuzhi, and when did he jump out of an Huangfu Wujin, which made him really puzzled.

He was thinking about this matter in the study, when there was a knock on the door, and he heard his second son Zhang Rong say outside the door: "Father, can the child come in?" ”

"Come in!"

Zhang Rong pushed the door in, knelt down and bowed, "Say hello to my father." ”

Zhang Jinjie likes his two sons very much, of course, he is more partial to the younger son, the younger son looks like his mother, but his surname is like him, calm and shrewd, quite low-key and restrained, he has not bullied his classmates because he is the son of Xiangguo since he was a child.

Zhang Jinjie has also seen his son's evaluation in Weiyang County, which is very good, and he is on the exam every year, which lays a solid foundation for his promotion.

Zhang Jinjie smiled slightly, "Don't be polite, get up!" ”

Zhang Rong stood up and stood with his hands down, Zhang Jinjie smiled and asked him, "Hearing that your father is going out, are you going to visit the minister?" ”

Zhang Rong hurriedly said: "Back to my father, the child is going to Nanshi with his wife today, I want to buy her something, and I am going to go to my father-in-law's house at night." ”

Zhang Jin nodded, "Your mother often tells me that your daughter-in-law is knowledgeable and quite filial, you have been an official outside for many years, and it is not easy for her to serve her in-laws alone. Let her take care of you too. ”

"The child obeys his father's command."

After a pause, Zhang Rong said again: "Father, the child still has something to report to his father." ”

"I know you're going to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing, say it! What's up? ”

"Father, today the child met an old man from Weiyang County in Nanshi, this person made the child feel quite surprised, so he wanted his father to meet him, and he has brought him back to the house, if the father does not want to see him, then he should be a friend of the child, and the child will send him away later."

"Rong'er!"

Zhang Jinjie aggravated his tone a little unhappily, "If your father wants to talk about you, how can you be so reckless, bring people back first without waiting for my consent, so rude to people and make it difficult for your father, do you see it or not?" You are not short of being an official, why is this matter so impetuous? ”

"Back to my father, the child wants to report to his father first and then invite this person to the door, but I feel that this matter is very important, and I am afraid that I will miss my father's major event when it is too late, so I am in a hurry to invite him."

"Oh? It's weird. ”

Zhang Jinjie couldn't help but laugh and said, "Is there anyone else in Weiyang County who can misunderstand me, Su Hanzhen?" ”

"Didn't my father ask me yesterday about the East Palace tax money? This person is related to this matter, this person's name is Huangfu Wujin, has my father heard of it? ”

"The emperor has no jin?"

Zhang Jinjie felt that this name was very familiar, he thought about it for a while, and suddenly thought, the grandson of the king of Lanling County, the prince of Liangguo, who was crowned by the emperor in the morning, isn't it called Huangfu Wujin? And the emperor just met him in the morning.

Zhang Jin stood up and hurriedly asked, "Where is he now?" ”

"He's in the child's study, does the father want to see him?"

"Wait!"

Zhang Jinjie sat down and pondered for a while, and he asked his son, "What is your relationship with him?" ”

"He is the son of the Donghai Huangfu clan, Su Hanzhen values him very much, I initially had a little holiday with him, but then he came to me to admit his mistake, I liked him a lot, so I gradually became close to him, but I didn't expect him to be a royal family."

"This is the unpredictable world, Rong'er, so I let you learn the mean, don't be easy to be the enemy of others, that's the truth."

"Yes! The child remembered. ”

Zhang Jinjie asked again: "Then did he tell you what kind of official the emperor gave him?" ”

"He said it, he said that the emperor made him the deputy governor of the Chuzhou Navy."

Zhang Jinjie was stunned, "How can you be in Chuzhou?" ”

"The child also feels strange, since he was named the Duke of Liangguo, why did he go to Chuzhou again? He was also very puzzled, he didn't understand the emperor's intentions, and he didn't know if his father could give him some guidance. ”

Zhang Jinjie frowned and thought for a moment, and a smile gradually appeared on the corner of his mouth, "I'm quite interested in this young man, bring him to meet me!" ”

Zhang Rong went out, and after a while, he led Wujin to his father's study, and he introduced his father, "Father, he is Huangfu Wujin!" ”

The reason why Wujin returned home with Zhang Rong was not that he really wanted to know the reason why he was the deputy governor of the Chuzhou Water Army, but that he wanted to know Zhang Rong's father, Zhang Jinjie, a powerful minister in the court who was no less than Shen Guo's uncle.

Wu Jin stepped forward and gave a deep salute, "The younger generation has no Jin, see Xiangguo!" ”

Zhang Jinjie glanced him up and down, and said with a slight smile: "It turns out that you are Huangfu Wujin, your name has caused a sensation in the court today, and you will be the Duke of Liangguo at the age of eighteen, even if it is a royal family, it is rare." ”

Wu Jin said modestly: "The kid has a rough knowledge, and he is blessed by the emperor, and the kid is ashamed and doesn't dare to be valued by Xiangguo." ”

"It's not good to talk about being rude, if you are rude, how can you deceive Shao Jingwen and safely release the tax and silver of the East Palace into Beijing, if you are rude, how can you make a big fuss about Baifu Restaurant and make Uncle Shen Guo disgraced, Wujin, you are too modest."

Wu Jin saw that he knew himself quite well, so he was embarrassed and said, "I can't hide anything from Xiangguo." ”

Zhang Jinjie smiled and waved his hand, "Please sit down!" ”

Then he said to his son, "Sit down with you." ”

The three of them sat down, the maid served them tea, and Zhang Jinjie smiled and said to Wu Jin: "I heard Rong'er say that you were named the deputy governor of the Chuzhou Navy, congratulations first!" ”

"Xiangguo is a Zhongshu order, and he is also a secretary of the ministry, don't you know about it?"

"Maybe your appointment has already arrived in Zhongshu Province, but I really didn't know it before I returned home."

Zhang Jinjie pondered for a while, and said to Wu Jin: "According to the practice of the imperial court, below the prince, the official must match the title of the knight, like you serve as the deputy governor of the Chuzhou Navy, then your title should be the Duke of Chu, the Duke of Wu, the Duke of Yue or the Duke of Huai, so it is called a match, so when I heard that you were named the Duke of Liang, I immediately thought that you should go to Xiliang as an official, but let you go to Chuzhou, it is very surprising, Wujin, do you think it is the reason?" ”

As the saying goes, it is unwise to talk shallow and deep, as Xiangguo, Zhang Jinjie will certainly not be in his heart with Wu Jin who met for the first time, everything he said was very cautious, especially when it came to the emperor's thoughts, he didn't dare to leak it easily, he would only say some open rules, let Wu Jin think about it himself, and deduce the reasons by himself.

After the death of Empress Yang at the beginning of the year, Zhang Jinjie was also in a mess for a while, thinking that the king of Chu would inevitably be deposed, so he unconsciously favored Uncle Shen, but with the gradual stabilization of the situation, especially the removal of Huangfu Yibiao Zongzheng Siqing, he suddenly realized that the emperor did not really want to abolish the prince, he finally woke up, and gradually returned to the centrists, not to participate in the power struggle between Uncle Shen and the prince.

But he also has his own long-term considerations, he wants to become a third faction whose strength is no less than that of Uncle Shen and the crown prince, so that whether it is the king of Chu or the crown prince ascending the throne, the first thing is to win him over so that he can be invincible in the power struggle of the imperial court.

Zhang Jinjie's prestige in the imperial court is enough, but the local forces are too few, and there is a blank in the army, if he can successfully form an alliance with the Liangwang faction, this will undoubtedly greatly enhance his strength, he has such an idea, but there is no chance, but his son Zhang Rong has a good relationship with the new upstart Huangfu Wujin of the Liangwang family, which makes him suddenly see a glimmer of hope.

(To be continued)