The next day, when he returned to Keyoulai Restaurant, Wu Zongrui left in no hurry.

He barely slept last night and thought a lot. If Gao Qiqian was sent by the emperor, it meant there was room for improvement in the situation. It would be up to him to do what he did next.

At the age of twenty-two, he became the third-rank right minister of the Ministry of War, which was unique in the court. It would definitely arouse a lot of suspicion. Although the emperor had issued the decree, he could not help but be criticized and impeached by some people. In addition, the emperor himself

I'm just too suspicious. I already had some doubts. It's very possible that I might change my mind at some point.

Relying entirely on Gao Qiqian, He Fengsheng and others has a certain effect, but it is not absolutely reliable. You have to rely more on yourself. No matter what outsiders do, it is all due to external factors. Working hard on your own is the internal factor and is crucial.

of.

It is extremely stupid to write a memorial to the emperor now to express loyalty. It means that there is no three hundred taels of silver here, so we must use other methods to show our "loyalty" to the emperor and stabilize our position.

With the mentality and understanding of people who have traveled through time, underestimating the talents of the late Ming Dynasty and thinking that everyone can be deceived is a self-destructive approach. Sometimes, the officialdom battles in the late Ming Dynasty were more cruel than those hundreds of years later.

.

The first decision Wu Zongrui made was to visit Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet.

The power game between Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, the former chief minister of the cabinet, has come to an end and ended with Wen Tiren's victory. This is the moment when Wen Tiren's power is most consolidated and the moment when his power reaches its peak. More importantly, Wen Tiren is

The leaders of the Zhejiang Party are completely indifferent to the Donglin Party members and Fushe. There is a power game between them all the time.

Wu Zongrui had good reasons to visit Wen Tiren. When he was still the magistrate of Chuzhou, Shi Kefa came to investigate the matter of collecting land taxes on behalf of the court. It was Wen Tiren who supported Wu Zongrui.

It would be abnormal not to visit Wen Tiren.

Wen Tiren's residence is on Chaoyangmen Street, located in Sichengfang, close to Old Taicang.

Wu Zongrui chose to visit just after noon, and he carefully considered this time.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Wen Tiren's home must be crowded with guests. There are countless officials who come to visit. If he chooses to visit after the official time, waiting in line, not to mention the time wasted, he may not be able to see Wen Tiren in person. Maybe the housekeeper

Just come forward and deal with it and that's it.

Wen Tiren must be aware of Wu Zongrui's current situation, and may avoid it. Therefore, Wu Zongrui needs to wait for Wen Tiren at his residence to show his sincerity. He must see Wen Tiren anyway and tell him something.

Chaoyangmen Street, Sichengfang, Wen Tiren's residence.

It was noon, and the area around the mansion was quite deserted. No one would visit the mansion at this time.

Everything was as expected. Wu Zongrui walked up the steps and raised his hand to knock on the door.

A man who looked like a butler opened the side door and looked at Wu Zongrui.

"This is the residence of Lord Wen of the Cabinet. Do you have anything to do..."

The prime minister's concierge is a seventh-rank official, not to mention Wen Tiren is the chief minister of the cabinet. His butler is definitely not simple. He has seen a lot of the world and knows how to see and know people.

Wu Zongrui showed an attitude of neither being arrogant nor humble, clasping his fists and speaking to the housekeeper.

"I am the right minister of the Ministry of War, the censor of Zuo Qiandu of the Supervisory Yuan, and Wu Zongrui, the governor of Denglai. Yesterday I paid homage to the emperor in the palace, and today I specially came to visit my mentor. I am the tribute scholar of the second year of Chongzhen. Lord Wen presided over it that year.

I am my mentor. I am assigned as an official abroad and it is difficult to get to the capital. This is a good opportunity, so I made a special trip to see my mentor. Please help me introduce him..."

There was no expression on the butler's face. At this time, Wen Tiren did not return to the mansion and was still handling government affairs in the cabinet. Everyone knew that Wen Tiren would not come back until at least after Shen Shi. If there were many things in the cabinet, he might come back even later.

, officials who wanted to visit almost always came after Shen Shi.

Wu Zongrui came to visit the mansion so early. If it is impossible not to know the time, then the only possibility left is to meet Wen Tiren.

A smile appeared on the housekeeper's face.

"Well, I'm the housekeeper of the mansion, Master Wu. I will not return to the mansion until after Shen Shi. It's still early at this moment. Should Master Wu wait until after Shen Shi..."

"It's okay. I'll wait nearby. Please ask the housekeeper to report it when the time comes."

While talking, Wu Zongrui handed over the brocade bag, and his movements were also natural.

The butler was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized and accepted the brocade bag naturally.

"Master Wu, would you like to sit in the mansion for a while? When the master comes back, please give me a report..."

"No, I'm just going to wander around a bit. I haven't been to the capital for several years. I want to take a look around."

The brocade bag contains yellow and white things, which are the butler's favorite things.

Wu Zongrui was generous, and there were ten taels of gold in the brocade bag. Even Wen Tiren's well-informed butler, who had to receive a large number of visiting officials every day, might not be able to get such a large amount of money.

With this money, there is no problem in impressing the housekeeper. Although Wu Zongrui wants to meet Wen Tiren, he is not sure. The housekeeper will definitely give a special report to Wen Tiren. If Wen Tiren does not want to meet, the housekeeper will find a way to say it tactfully. Wu Zongrui

With Wen Tiren's attitude, he can clearly know what his current situation is.

The butler took the brocade bag without paying much attention to it. When Wu Zongrui left, the butler closed the side door, returned to the house, and opened the brocade bag. The expression on his face changed rapidly. Inside the brocade bag, there was actually one ingot or ten taels of gold.

Ten taels of gold can be exchanged for one hundred and twenty taels of silver. In the memory of the housekeeper, no one has ever been so generous.

The housekeeper secretly rejoiced that his master made a clear request that the servants in the mansion were not allowed to wait at the gate. He, the housekeeper, was the one to receive the visitors. At first, the housekeeper thought it was inappropriate, but the servants in the mansion could complain.

Why did the butler directly come forward to deal with the matter? Later, I gradually understood that my master was very careful. The servants in the mansion had never seen the world and might not have received them well, causing the master to offend people for no reason. The butler had been with the master for many years and knew how to deal with it.

How to deal with the officials who come to visit, especially those officials who the master is unwilling to come forward to receive.

After putting away the brocade bag, the housekeeper let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that the young Master Wu was eager to see his master.

If you use people's money to eliminate disasters, the housekeeper will definitely report it to the master. Besides, Mr. Wu is very smart and came to visit him at noon. For this reason, the housekeeper can report it to the master.

Two hours passed quickly.

At the time of application, Wu Zongrui arrived at Wen Tiren's residence on time.

This time, the housekeeper quickly opened the side door and let Wu Zongrui enter the mansion.

A large number of officials will soon come to visit my master. The housekeeper is afraid that they will not be able to take care of them at that time, so he should let Wu Zongrui enter the mansion early so that he can report when his master has just returned to the mansion.

If my master does not want to see Mr. Wu, the response is simple, just say that my master is not feeling well and does not want to see guests. I believe that the young Mr. Wu will leave wisely.

At a quarter of an hour, the sedan stopped outside the mansion.

Wen Tiren stepped out of the sedan and walked straight to the side door. The butler had already been waiting outside the side door.

There were already several sedan chairs outside the mansion, but Wen Tiren didn't even look at them. There were so many people visiting the mansion every day that Wen Tiren was really annoyed.

The sophisticated Wen Tiren understood that he could not turn away the visiting officials. It was necessary to let them enter the mansion, but the housekeeper could help receive them. As for important guests, they had to meet them anyway.

Just as he walked into the side door, the housekeeper spoke softly.

"Master, I had a visitor at home. I came to the mansion at noon. I heard that the master had not returned to the mansion yet. I waited around for two hours, and Shen Shi came over again."

Wen Tiren looked at the housekeeper. Needless to say, the housekeeper only collects money. Wen Tiren is not very interested in this aspect. As the chief minister of the cabinet, he is not greedy for money. The servants of the mansion use his reputation and occasionally collect some money.

Will not object.

"Oh, who is it that comes to visit so early?"

"Sir, the person who came here said that he is your student, his name is Wu Zongrui, and he is currently the right minister of the Ministry of War..."

Before the butler finished speaking, he saw a slight change in Wen Tiren's expression.

"So it's him. Where is he? Is he waiting in the reception room?"

"Yes, sir, I will arrange for Mr. Wu to wait in the reception room..."

"Well, you go to the reception room first and deal with it. After I wash up and take a short rest, I will go to the reception room."

The butler nodded repeatedly, turned around and prepared to leave.

"Wait, remember, don't tell Mr. Wu right away that I'm going to see him in the reception room."

"Master, I understand."

Turning around and walking out of the wing, the housekeeper was a little confused. This was the first time he encountered such a situation. He really didn't understand, but he must do what the master ordered.

Wen Tiren did not wash up immediately. After the housekeeper left, he picked up the teacup and fell into deep thought.

Of course Wen Tiren knew about this Wu Zongrui. In the second year of Chongzhen's imperial examination, he was promoted to an official position. When he was the magistrate of Chuzhou, an incident occurred, but it was he, Wen Tiren, who calmed it down. After that, Wu Zongrui remained silent for a long time.

Wuxi, but when he was serving as the governor of Huai'an Prefecture, for some reason, he was not favored by Yang Yipeng, the governor of water transportation, and was transferred to Qingzhou, Shandong as the governor.

Wu Zongrui, who thought he was actually being reprimanded, might be pessimistic and discouraged. Unexpectedly, when he was in Qingzhou, he actually led his troops to Huanglong and captured the Denglai rebels' nest, allowing the rebels to be annihilated in a short period of time.

After Wu Zongrui became the governor of Denglai, he did some things and defeated the Houjin Tatars who came to harass him.

The strange thing is that Wu Zongrui is becoming more and more low-key.

As for Wu Zongrui's promotion to the right minister of the Ministry of War, Wen Tiren understood the meaning.
Chapter completed!