APSIL -Chapter 121 Do Whatever You Want, Just Don’t Ask for Money!

“Really? Zhang Chen actually said that?”

Following that voice, the emperor, who had just finished practicing swordsmanship and returned to the Qianqing Palace, could not hide the smile on his face at all.

If he had not just been outside maintaining the dignity of an emperor, he would have wanted to burst out laughing. After entering the Eastern Warm Pavilion and sitting down, he lightly tapped the armrest with his fingers and continued listening to Chu Kuan’s report.

However, after hearing about Zhang Chen causing trouble at several places, the emperor suddenly stared at Chu Kuan thoughtfully.

“You speak as if you personally witnessed everything. It is so vivid and detailed. Could it be that you sent people to follow Zhang Chen? Or perhaps you placed spies in those places?”

Chu Kuan had not expected the emperor, who had just been laughing happily while listening to the amusing story, to suddenly ask about this matter.

He hurriedly lowered his head and cautiously said: “Because Your Majesty entrusted Half-Mountain Hall to Doctor Zhang, this servant feared that someone might interfere, so I had no choice but to be a little careful…”

He racked his brains trying to downplay the matter and explained for quite some time, but all he received was a cold laugh from the emperor.

“You should know how wary people outside are of eunuchs. You know how much they dislike the existence of the Outer Office of the Directorate of Ceremonial. I know your little schemes. I know your small actions too.”

“I also know that when you were recruiting people outside, you used my name.”

The emperor glanced at him.

“The reason I never exposed it is because many officials have already assumed that this was something I instructed you to do.”

Seeing Chu Kuan immediately kneel down and lower his head without daring to speak, the emperor unhappily poked him with the tip of his shoe.

“Do you need to put on that frightened appearance to fool me?”

“Taizu, Taizong, Yingzong, my late father… Which capable emperor of our dynasty never monitored officials? Which one never dismissed officials because of secret reports from eunuchs?”

“My only requirement for you is this: do not deceive me.”

“Yes, yes. This servant obeys.”

Chu Kuan hurriedly agreed.

However, once the emperor had started speaking, he seemed unable to stop.

“Speaking of which, Taizu did countless things correctly. But there was one thing he failed to persist with.”

“Since he once abolished the imperial examinations for ten years, when he restored them before abdicating, he should have changed the system so that after passing the examination and becoming a jinshi, they would first enter the Imperial Academy.”

“Those who passed the jinshi examination should have spent three years studying at the Imperial Academy and one year gaining experience in local administration. Only after examining their practical abilities should they receive official positions.”

“Then no matter what, we would not have raised a group of useless officials who know nothing about local affairs!”

Chu Kuan was extremely surprised.

The emperor had always admired Taizu greatly, yet he had suddenly criticized him.

But the emperor clearly did not need his comfort or advice. Soon, he lazily continued: “Of course, the thing that damaged our dynasty’s vitality the most was choosing heirs based on virtue instead of seniority.”

“Choosing the eldest son certainly has countless problems. The eldest might simply be incompetent.”

“But choosing the most capable heir creates far greater disputes.”

“The Empress Dowager had no son, and the imperial harem had no true master. Taizong was the fourth prince, but Taizu believed he was wise and cultivated him as successor.”

“Yet only two years after Taizu abdicated and sailed overseas, disaster struck. Even though the information was suppressed, the court still underwent tremendous changes.”

“As a result, Taizong died after only six years on the throne. The sixteen-year-old Crown Prince mysteriously broke his leg and quietly left for his fief. The second prince died young. The third prince, Gaozong, ascended the throne at only six years old, without even having a mother empress.”

“Heh. Gaozong was not a particularly outstanding emperor. Yet even after reaching his forties, he still favored his youngest son and insisted on making Shizong his successor before his death…”

“If it were not for repeatedly abandoning the eldest son in favor of younger sons, then when Shizong died and his sons fought for power, how would Yingzong suddenly have taken the throne under the banner of revenge?”

“Unfortunately, Yingzong was not only a capable emperor, but he had spent too long as a prince. His children were poorly raised. After his death, chaos erupted once again, and then another emperor had to clean up the mess…”

“During the early Tang dynasty, almost no crown prince had a good ending. Later, eunuchs seized power and weakened imperial authority. As for the Yuan dynasty, their struggles for succession were practically bloody wars.”

“Although every succession dispute in our dynasty was immediately followed by protecting the Bureau of Military Weapons, some cannons, firearms, and blueprints still leaked to the northern barbarians and eastern tribes.”

“Otherwise, why would the borders remain unstable?”

Although Chu Kuan already knew these historical matters, and he had even passionately discussed some of them with Zhang Shou before, hearing them now still made his back break out in cold sweat.

Because he was unsure whether the emperor’s comments about Taizu abandoning the tradition of choosing the eldest son meant that he intended to appoint the First Prince as Crown Prince.

Furthermore, the emperor had mentioned the late Tang dynasty’s eunuch corruption, which was certainly not a comfortable topic for him.

Fortunately, the emperor did not continue.

After spacing out for a moment, he lazily said: “Forget it. No more talking about this.”

“In short, be careful when handling matters and choosing people. If something goes wrong, I may have to cut off my own arm to save myself.”

“And also…”

Chu Kuan was not particularly frightened by those words.

In fact, this emperor had said similar things many times before. But after twenty-six years on the throne, if he had not been decisive at critical moments, the Outer Office of the Directorate of Ceremonial would never have survived.

When the emperor was still young, countless people had tried to eliminate this only bridgehead of eunuchs outside the palace.

The Empress Dowager had considered compromising.

But the young emperor had publicly erupted in anger.

Therefore, hearing the emperor pause, Chu Kuan respectfully lowered his head.

“Please command me, Your Majesty.”

“The things inside the Ancient and Modern Comprehensive Archive… do not set your eyes on Zhang Shou.”

“He may possess considerable talent, but I still want to observe him.”

“The place even university scholars cannot enter, he entered.”

“Do you know what consequences that will create?”

Chu Kuan was shocked.

He immediately swore that he would never act recklessly.

Then he explained what Zhang Shou had requested when he visited the Directorate of Ceremonial’s Outer Office.

Finally, he awkwardly said: “I never expected that later he would not ask Grand Tutor Ge to intervene, but instead use the favor from Prefect Wang Jie of Shuntian Prefecture to recruit students…”

“I thought those old officials and Grand Director Zhou would oppose it…”

The emperor smiled.

“Because I need to appease people.”

“Grand Tutor Ge needs to be appeased.”

“And the imperial plaque written by Taizu in the Nine Chapters Hall also needs to be appeased.”

“Under such circumstances, the benefits naturally fall to him.”

“Since the founding of our dynasty, the study of mathematics and practical sciences has produced talented people, but never someone as young as him.”

The emperor waved his hand.

“Send someone to keep an eye on that plaque in Nine Chapters Hall.”

“I do not want anyone to have ideas about it.”

At that moment, a voice came from outside: “Your Majesty, Miss Zhu has sent a letter.”

“Yingying’s letter?”

The emperor found it both amusing and strange.

“Normally, she comes directly into the palace whenever she wants. She actually sent a letter?”

“What kind of medicine is she selling in this gourd?”

“Quick, bring it in!”

Chu Kuan hurriedly stood up and personally went to receive the letter.

When he took it from a young eunuch, he saw that the envelope was sealed with a personal stamp.

He secretly laughed.

This little girl was actually quite cautious.

He quickly brought the letter before the emperor.

The emperor squeezed the thickness of the envelope and clicked his tongue.

Then he casually tore it open.

But after seeing the first page, he let out a surprised sound.

It turned out Zhu Ying had directly stated that she was merely a “helpful person” assisting Zhang Shou by delivering his memorial.

“A helpful person…”

The emperor shook his head with amusement.

“This girl…”

He was about to put the letter aside, but then he noticed that afterward she proudly made a request.

She wanted permission to frequently visit Half-Mountain Hall in the future.

Her proposed identity?

An unofficial supervising censor of the Imperial Academy.

Her purpose?

To see whether those noble-born students were actually attending classes properly.

The emperor laughed.

“I think you are concerned about Zhang Shou as a teacher, not those students.”

He moved to the final page.

When he saw the handwriting on the second sheet, his expression became strange.

Compared with Zhang Shou’s profound mathematical knowledge and opinions that suited his tastes, this handwriting…

Sigh.

To put it nicely, it lacked elegance.

To put it badly…

It was terrible.

It still needed practice.

However, he suppressed his dissatisfaction and continued reading.

Soon he discovered that this was actually a curriculum plan for Half-Mountain Hall.

And then he saw that Zhang Shou was asking him for resources.

The emperor immediately laughed and cursed: “This boy actually came to ask me for people!”

“He even says that if I refuse to give him people, he wants permission to hire outside teachers, and he also wants buildings and funding…”

“This is simply…”

He paused.

Then suddenly he smiled thoughtfully.

“Chu Kuan, bring paper and ink.”

An hour later.

At the Zhao State Duke’s residence, Zhang Shou was waiting for Zhu Ying’s report from the palace.

When the imperial reply arrived, or rather, the emperor’s letter, Zhang Shou opened the envelope.

Seeing the bright red characters written in the emperor’s own hand, he could not help laughing.

“Do whatever you want. Just don’t ask for money!”

Zhu Ying leaned over to look and immediately became annoyed.

“His Majesty is actually this stingy!”

“It’s fine.”

Zhang Shou smiled.

“Actually, I was asking for an outrageous amount so we could negotiate down.”

“What I truly wanted were just the first three words.”

He carefully folded the imperial letter.

“Not some spoken promise that can be denied later.”

“This handwritten imperial instruction is already very generous.”

“Hmph!”

Zhu Ying secretly wondered:

Could this also be interpreted as the emperor encouraging her?

She took a small breath and asked: “Classes start the day after tomorrow.”

“A-Shou, what will you teach them in the first lesson?”

Zhang Shou hesitated slightly.

Then he smiled.

“Since it is the first lesson, it’s simple.”

“We’ll introduce ourselves.”

“That’s all.”

Two princes.

A group of noble-born troublemakers.

This combination was definitely not easy to handle.

The normal approach probably would not work.

So…

Time to use an unconventional method.