Emperor Jiajing was a mean and unkind person, living a luxurious life himself, but he could not watch others live a good life. For example, Zhao Wenhua, a waiter in the Ministry of Works, is a well-known corrupt official, but he is very valued by Emperor Jiajing, because of his appetite for Emperor Jiajing. Under the guidance of his teacher Yan Song and younger brother Yan Shifan, Zhao Wenhua deliberately catered to Emperor Jiajing's preferences. Emperor Jiajing was very satisfied with this official, and assigned Zhao Wenhua to go out on business many times, so that Zhao Wenhua gained a lot of benefits. It just so happened that Zhao Wenhua was used to living a hard life since he was a child, and vowed to live in a big house and be a rich man in the future. Zhao Wenhua bought a large courtyard with the money and goods he collected, and used his position as a waiter in the Ministry of Engineering to build a small building. was also too conspicuous, and it happened to be used by someone with a heart, and Emperor Jiajing deliberately saw it. Although Emperor Jiajing knew that Zhao Wenhua was his own person, he still couldn't see Zhao Wenhua living a good life, so he ordered an investigation into Zhao Wenhua's case. In the end, it was decided that Zhao Wenhua's family would return and make up for all the losses, resulting in Zhao Wenhua's family living like cattle and horses for seven generations in order to repay debts.

Emperor Jiajing didn't want to see King Yu's son, and his subordinates also began to bully King Yu. Although they didn't dare to bully King Yu's family openly, these chamberlains and palace maids had a way to make King Yu suffer. King Yu couldn't see his father, Emperor Jiajing, all year round, so he didn't have a chance to sue. Everything that is sent to Yuwang's Mansion is good as long as the quantity is right, and the quality of the things is the worst, or even unusable. When Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun entered Yuwang's Mansion for the first time, they almost thought that they were in the wrong place, because they could never have imagined that a prince would live this kind of life.

The exterior wall of Yuwang's Mansion looks very magnificent, because this is the place where a vassal king entered Beijing and stayed, and it has a royal style. But when I went inside, I realized that there was almost nothing inside. Not to mention the precious flowers and trees, not even some neat furniture. Except for a few pieces of furniture in the main hall and Yuwang's room, which seem to be okay, there are almost no complete utensils. The clothes worn by the chamberlains and palace maids who served King Yu were also patched, and what shocked them even more was that Princess Yu Wang was also wearing old clothes. Later, they learned that Yuwang's outer clothes were good, and the clothes inside were also worn-out clothes with patches.

Just when Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun visited King Yu for the first time, they happened to be sent by the chamberlain to King Yu's Mansion for this month. According to the usual practice, the adult royal descendants of King Yu, who are at the level of a prince, can receive three pieces of cloth and one silk for five hundred taels of silver every month, as well as various food and food. But Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun saw very few physical objects, not to mention that some of them could not be used. The silk is gone, as if it is said that the palace has saved expenses. Of the two pieces of fabric that were sent, one was missing nearly half, and the other was moldy and unusable. There are a total of ten bags of grain in a sack of two hundred catties, but they are all broken rice and old rice. The so-called seasonal vegetables are the kind that are sold outside the vegetable market and left unwanted. The only fruit was a basket of peaches, all of which were unsightly and rotten. The cost of five hundred taels of silver became two kinds of paper, one was a receipt for King Yu to take the initiative to honor his father, Emperor Jiajing, and the other was a receipt for wishing Emperor Jiajing a long life. That is to say, not only this month, but even next month and next month, Yuwang has no living expenses to receive.

Just when Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun were shocked, King Yu had already sent someone to send people away, and he and Princess Chen packed up their things together. Chen selected seven edible peaches from a large pile of peaches that could barely be eaten, and put them on a plate for people to send to Yuwang's study, and then invited Yuwang and Zhang Juzheng and others to eat. With the help of several chamberlains, Yuwang disposed of the moldy grain, put the remaining old rice into the rice jar, packed the broken rice for the next person to eat, and the moldy rice was reluctant to be thrown to the chickens to eat. Several palace maids chose from the moldy fabric, leaving the rags as raw materials for small objects. Later, I learned that all the women in Yuwangfu, including the Chen family, had to do needlework and sell money to support everyone.

Zhang Juzheng is richer than Tan Lun's family, he can't see King Yu living like this, and offers to bring some food. When he came to the door for the second time, Zhang Juzheng took a lot of things in a big bag and a small bag, but he was stopped at the gate of the palace. finally left some things, but after Yuwang ate it, he couldn't stand the greasy diarrhea. Tan Lun only sent a few eggs, which made everyone very happy, and Chen was reluctant to eat them, and wanted to hatch the eggs and raise them with chicks. Tan Lun reluctantly reminded Chen that these eggs could not hatch, and next time he would bring some eggs that could hatch. This was the first time Chen came into contact with Tan Lun, and Chen, who is now the Empress Dowager Chen, still remembers the slightly nervous Tan Lun.

King Yu lives in the palace, almost isolated from the outside world, let alone outsiders, and even living creatures can't be brought in. In view of the fact that King Yu could not eat excessively greasy food, and living animals could not be brought in, Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun thought of a way to bring things to King Yu. At that time, Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun were not only young but also had a good relationship, they sympathized with King Yu and wanted to help King Yu achieve great things, so they helped King Yu cheer up. Zhang Juzheng's family is relatively wealthy, so he pays for it, and Tan Lun's newlywed wife will make some snacks that are delicious and easy to carry, so Tan Lun's wife will make the food. The two of them took the opportunity to give a lecture to King Yu every time they entered the palace, and carried food through the inventory at the palace gate. Yuwang is very happy every time he sees them, not only can he learn about the outside world, but he can also eat a good meal. Thanks to Tan Lun's help, Yuwangfu gradually had more chickens, and the chickens could not only lay eggs but also eat meat when they grew up, so that several masters could ensure that they had one egg a day and eat chicken at least once a month. However, King Yu and his wife still like to eat the bread made by Tan Lun's wife, but unfortunately when Emperor Longqing ascended the throne and wanted to reward Tan Lun's wife, Tan Lun's wife had already passed away. Emperor Longqing never ate pastries, because the cakes made by anyone were not as delicious as those made by Tan Lun's wife, at least Emperor Longqing thought so.

Because Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun accompanied King Yu through the most difficult years, Emperor Longqing, who later became emperor, was most at ease with them. After King Yu confirmed the status of the crown prince, these three people no longer stayed in King Yu's mansion. Gao Gong returned to the Hanlin Academy as his edict in the Hanlin Academy, and later served as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, laying the foundation for his future entry into the cabinet. Zhang Juzheng first went to the Criminal Department, and later transferred to the Military Department, and became an all-round talent who understood both criminal law and warfare. Tan Lun took the initiative to ask to go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to assist Hu Zongxian, the then governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, to pacify the Japanese invaders. After returning to the capital, Tan Lun took turns to work in each yamen of the six ministries and Jiuqing, in fact, he knew more about the operation of each yamen than Zhang Juzheng.

With the fall of Yan Song and the appointment of Xu Jie as the first assistant of the cabinet, the status of King Yu was determined, and the friendship between Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun also came to an end. After Xu Jie's appointment as the first assistant of the cabinet, he was almost the same as Yan Song, except that he was not as strong as Yan Song to suppress all the opposition. He not only began to embezzle, but also began to cultivate the power of his cronies, which made Gao Gong, who was originally a little despised by Xu Jie's character, even more dissatisfied with Xu Jie, the head of the cabinet. Gao Gong is already a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, and he can enter the cabinet on an equal footing with Xu Jie, but Xu Jie finds various reasons not to let Gao Gong enter the cabinet. Gao Gong angrily told Xu Jie's dirty things about two sides and three knives, and Xu Jie was even more aimed at Gao Gong. The two teachers fought like black-boned chickens, and of course the two students could not still be friends. Besides, the two students also need to improve, there is only one opportunity and treatment, they become competitors, and of course the relationship is strained.

As Zhang Juzheng gradually gained his own strength, Tan Lun didn't want to compare with Zhang Juzheng, but when he thought of Xu Jie, who was about to be the same as Yan Song, Tan Lun couldn't help but remind this former friend and current opponent Zhang Juzheng. It was the first time Zhang Juzheng heard that someone compared his teacher Xu Jie to Yan Song, but he knew Tan Lun very well, and Tan Lun would not deliberately smear Xu Jie because of his superiority. Zhang Juzheng secretly investigated the behavior of his teacher Xu Jie these days, and Zhang Juzheng began to be disappointed and sad about Xu Jie. Zhang Juzheng tried to persuade his teacher Xu Jie, but Xu Jie, who had been overwhelmed by power, couldn't listen to it, and even quarreled with Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng was sad and decided to part ways with Xu Jie, and everyone thought that Zhang Juzheng was tantamount to ruining his future by doing so. offended the first assistant of the cabinet and was expelled by his own teacher, and Zhang Juzheng had no backer. Unexpectedly, Zhang Juzheng's approach not only won the favor of Gao Gong and Tan Lun, but also made King Yu see Zhang Juzheng's personality clearly. After King Yu ascended the throne and became Emperor Longqing, the first thing he did was to announce that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng had entered the cabinet, Gao Gong served as the second assistant of the cabinet, and Zhang Juzheng walked for the cabinet. Zhang Juzheng offended Xu Jie, the first assistant of the cabinet, not only did he not have bad luck, but he also entered the cabinet and became the reserve force of the cabinet, which made Zhang Juzheng a big step forward in his career. In contrast, Tan Lun is much inferior to Zhang Juzheng because he does not have much performance.

After Tan Lun saw that his teacher Gao Gong began to be enthusiastic about power, he also began to worry about Gao Gong. After Gao Gong squeezed Xu Jie out to become the first assistant of the cabinet, Tan Lun was even more worried that Gao Gong would become the next target. However, he would not part ways like Zhang Juzheng did with Xu Jie, Tan Lun decided to look at Gao Gong and not let Gao Gong make a mistake. As Emperor Longqing paid more and more attention to Zhang Juzheng, Tan Lun began to have the idea of quitting the court. Gao Gong has begun to be unable to fight against Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong hopes that Tan Lun will take over his team and continue to be the enemy of Zhang Juzheng, but Tan Lun does not want to destroy the situation because of party strife, and is even more unwilling to fight to the death with Zhang Juzheng. Therefore, Tan Lun took the initiative to propose an external transfer, in fact, to avoid this partisan dispute, and Gao Gong had no way to stop Tan Lun. Tan Lun's approach made Zhang Juzheng admire, made Emperor Longqing feel the integrity he heard, and made Gao Gong see his own shortcomings clearly. Tan Lun is smarter than anyone else, he has learned to let go, and he has learned to retreat as advance. Zhang Juzheng is already very stable in the capital, and once Zhang Juzheng becomes the first assistant of the cabinet, Tan Lun will be affected. Tan Lun might as well go outside to be an official, once Zhang Juzheng has an accident in the capital, he can come back and re-establish his camp.