Eleven, The problem of enterprising spirit

  Zhu Yuanzhang feigned a look of sudden enlightenment: "I understand, what you mean is that I should help remind Yang Chao and Wang Ergou to listen more to your words. Don't worry about this matter, I'll take care of it. I'll go and advise Yang Chao and Wang Ergou in a moment, and let them do things well for you."

  "Can't you be less foolish?" Qiguan Shi hummed and said, "Who said I wanted you to go persuade them? What I mean is that you're the one who understands things and can help me with tasks. For this new manager of the side courtyard, I plan to promote you to take on the role."

  "Ah?" Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to be startled, taking a step back. Then, a carefully disguised smile spread across his face, with three parts surprise, three parts astonishment, three parts panic and one part complacency: "Great, can I really make it?"

  Qī Guǎn Shì felt extremely satisfied with his expression, only a tenth of which was complacency, while the other nine-tenths were surprise. It seemed that he had really not expected to be promoted, so he smiled and said: "You don't have to rush, Yang Chāo and you are still in my consideration, I need to observe you some more. Besides, Second Master also told me to perform a bit more, I'm not going to become the deputy manager of the inner courtyard tomorrow, of course, I'll also see how you two perform."

  He paused for a moment and said: "Huh? I thought you had become smarter two days ago, why did you start getting stupid again on this kind of thing?" ?? Late Ming Zhu Chongba 11

  Zhu Yuanzhang secretly smiled to himself, it would be strange if he didn't pretend to be a bit foolish at this time. In his previous life, when Zhu Yuanzhang was the emperor, many famous ministers and generals worked under him, so he understood very well the mindset of superiors looking down on their subordinates.

  Superiors always hope that their subordinates are capable, intelligent, and work harder than oxen... However, at the same time, they also have another requirement for their subordinates, which is "don't be too ambitious, don't always think about advancing", otherwise it will threaten the superior's position.

  For example, if a village head is very progressive, the township head who is his direct superior will feel great pressure. Because once the village head is promoted to the next level, he will become the township head, what will happen to the original township head? If the township head is very progressive, the county magistrate will also feel great pressure. The county magistrate works hard to be progressive, and the prefectural governor will not be able to sit still... Level by level, increasing upwards, if a general or a prime minister is thinking about being more progressive... This is what is called "merit that shakes the ruler", the emperor has to take action to kill people...

  Because of this reason, in order to consolidate his own Jiangshan Sheji, Zhu Yuanzhang killed many people in the previous generation. The founding meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty were almost all killed by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, leaving only a few small fish escaping the net. Those who survived this massacre were all people without great ambitions and no longer thinking of making progress, such as Tang He, who was able to die in peace in his later years because he no longer thought about advancing.

  Of course, this massacre also led to the loss of all capable and experienced generals in the Ming Dynasty. Later, when Zhu Di rebelled, the legitimate heir of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunwen, could not produce a decent general to confront Zhu Di, and the result is self-evident... During the years when Zhu Yuanzhang was floating in the sky as an onlooker, he had already reflected on his mistakes and vowed not to repeat them.

  He won't make the mistake of being arrogant, nor will he make the mistake of being overly humble. Ambition is something that can be in your heart, but not on your face. You can think it, but you can't show it. At times like these, pretending to be stupid is always safe.

  Then Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head awkwardly, revealing a hint of the simplicity and honesty that was unique to cowboys, and chuckled: "This matter... I didn't dare think in that direction."

  "Very good!" Zhi Guanshi was very satisfied with his reaction, waved his hand and said: "Go to work, remember what I said, listen to me, people who understand things, I will use..."

  Zhu Yuanzhang responded with a sound, turned around and walked out of Qi's small house, standing in the courtyard in front of the house. He looked back at this independent small room with a living room, bedroom, and study, and sighed softly: "Soon, it should be my turn to live in this house..."

  In the following days, Zhu Yuanzhang lived a very simple life. He didn't deliberately try to show off, but instead got up early every morning to herd cattle and did his job as a cowherd boy with great prospects. In the afternoon, he brought the cattle back and helped other long-term and short-term workers plow the land. At night, he would practice boxing with Wang Er in the courtyard to exercise his body.

  This leisurely life, on the one hand, is an attitude of "I don't have strong desires" to show off to Qiguan, and on the other hand, it is also to lay a good foundation among the people. In the past, Zhu Ba was really too timid, not only did he not have any friends, but he also had no relationship with all the long and short workers. This obviously does not conform to Zhu Yuanzhang's interests. In order to face the natural disasters and man-made disasters that will occur in the future, Zhu Yuanzhang needs to unite all forces that can be united, so he spends all his time getting along with people around him, gaining their trust and support.

  He didn't want to live a muddled life like Zhu Ba, unable to even remember the names of Master Ma, the two young masters and one young mistress. He wanted to have a clearer grasp on things around him.

  After several days of gathering intelligence, he quietly found out about the Ma family. Mr. Ma's full name was Ma Tianyuan, a scholar and former official who had served as the magistrate of a small county. He was now 65 years old, retired and resting at home, almost ready to enter his coffin. As a result, the Ma family was not actually managed by him, but rather used his former official status to provide protection for the family.

  Ma Jia's eldest young master is called Ma Zhi Xiong, a scholar who has passed the imperial examination and holds a jinshi degree. Unfortunately, he did not pass the imperial examination to become a high-ranking official. He is now 41 years old and is already a middle-aged man. This person is actually the de facto helmsman of the Ma family. He is steady and mature, with some far-sightedness. Although his learning is not as profound as that of his father, Ma Tianyuan, he is good at managing the family business and handling family affairs, so he has managed the Ma family's affairs clearly and in an orderly manner. However, six months ago, he went to Xi'an Prefecture to manage the family's property in Xi'an and is currently not at home, temporarily entrusting the management of household affairs to Ma Ershao (the second young master).

  The second young master of the Ma family was called Ma Zhbin, a descendant of the second generation. He had no achievements or fame, and his life was neither high nor low. This year he is only 24 years old, and there are 17 years between him and his older brother. He was the son that Ma Tianyuan had in his middle age, and he was spoiled to the point of being useless. As a result, he didn't learn any skills, and all day long he just knew how to go out and have fun. Occasionally when the old master gave him some tasks to do, he would just hand them over to several managers in the inner courtyard or side courtyard and ignore them. For this reason, he was often scolded, but he still did his own thing, thinking that if anything happened, there were his father and older brother to take care of it.

  The third Miss Ma's name is unknown, a lady's private name isn't something that just anyone can know, she's fifteen years old this year, raised in the inner chambers without anyone recognizing her. Zhu Yuanzhang also has no interest in recognizing her, to him women are just tools for carrying on the family line, there's no need to gather intelligence on her. He won't give his love to any woman because in his past life, when his original wife, the first empress of the Ming dynasty passed away, Zhu Yuanzhang's flames of love had already been extinguished, whether in this life or the last, he won't fall in love with another woman again.

  Apart from the intelligence of Ma's family, Zhu Yuanzhang also took an interest in Zhang of Chengcheng, after all, he was the first enemy to be beaten by himself and establish prestige, and Zhang might organize people to fight back at any time, how could he not pay attention?

  After inquiring, he indeed found out that the helmsman of the Zhang family in Cheng City was named Zhang Douyao, who was the county magistrate of Cheng City (some historical records recorded as Zhang Yaochai, which is an error, and this book uses the name Zhang Douyao).

  In the morning, strictly enforce the system of "officials must avoid registration and relatives", that is to say, officials are not allowed to hold office in their own hometown or where they have relatives. Therefore, the general county magistrate usually has no property in his own territory. Two sleeves come with a clear wind, three years later, sweep the ground three feet, sleeve bag drum swelling and go away. ?? Late Ming Zhu Chongba 11

  But Zhang Douyao was different from other magistrates, as soon as he took office in Chengcheng County, he immediately seized a large piece of land on the west side of the county by force and deception, becoming a well-known big landlord in Chengcheng County. He even let his own son be responsible for managing these industries. He even claimed that after three years when his term was over and he was transferred, his son would not leave and would continue to operate and manage these industries... In the future, he would retire from office and come here to spend his old age.

  After getting this intelligence, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel amused by the White Water Horse family's strong momentum. It seems that the recent fight was supported by the brainless Second Young Master behind the scenes. He even dared to offend the county magistrate of Chengcheng County. It has to be said that he is very bold and stupid enough. The revenge of the Zhang family in Chengcheng will come soon...

  That's right, the name Zhang Douyao seems familiar! Zhu Yuanzhang racked his brains, but unfortunately, the memory library he had obtained as a bystander in the sky over the centuries was too vast, and many of them were vague. For such a small character, he really couldn't remember what he had done, only vaguely remembering the name.

  In this relatively calm period, there was a flea named Yang Chao that constantly jumped around Zhu Yuanzhang, attempting to attack and defeat him in various ways.

  That day, before Qiguan talked to Zhu Yuanchang, Yang Chao was also called in for a talk. In short, he said: I want to find someone who listens and understands things to be the new deputy manager. This person was originally supposed to be you, but your recent performance has really disappointed me, so I chose Zhu Ba to compare with you. If you can't do better than Zhu Ba in this period of time, then forget about being the manager...

  Yang Chao heard this and was so angry that he jumped up and down. He had been serving as a steward for Qiguan for many years, wasn't it just to take a step forward? Now suddenly a Zhu Ba appeared out of nowhere, what's going on? Is the cooked duck about to fly away?

  Yang Chao vented his anger on Zhu Ba instead of Qi Guan Shi, so he would pick a fight with Zhu Ba whenever they met. He would glare at him and make sarcastic remarks, but he also knew that Zhu Ba was skilled in martial arts, so he only dared to provoke him verbally and didn't dare to take any real action.

  As for this clown's provocation, Zhu Yuanzhang simply ignored it, he was still waiting quietly for his own opportunity as before...

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