My eunuch godfather

Chapter 36 A Thorough Exchange of Opinions

"Thank you for your concern, Fourth Brother."

Zhang Kun was so angry he almost ground his teeth to powder, and said coldly to Li Cheng:

"Regarding the purchase of materials, my younger brother has already signed contracts with various merchants and paid deposits."

Now that Fourth Brother is involved, these businesses probably won't let this go easily!

Those who can do building materials business in the capital all have powerful backers.

"It's alright."

Li Cheng smiled at Zhang Kun, "If any merchant refuses to return the deposit, Fourth Brother will help you get it back!"

"...Fourth Brother, what if there's anything wrong with the materials you supply?!"

Zhang Kun, his fingers gripping the knife hilt tightly, remained silent for a long while before directly questioning Li Cheng:

"Let's speak frankly in front of our godfather! Fourth Brother is going to get involved in the materials business, he's definitely going to make money."

The river works camp is very tight on funds. Fourth Brother wants to make money, and I'm worried that there might be a lot of substandard materials!

Li Cheng's smile vanished, his eyes turned cold, and he stared at Zhang Kun, asking in return:

"Sixty-six, your fourth brother kindly wanted to help you, and this is what you think!?"

"Fourth brother,"

Only then did Zhang Ye speak, saying gently to Li Cheng:

"Kun'er is nervous because this is the first time he has been in charge of such a big matter. You can give him a guarantee."

He then scolded Zhang Kun, "Why aren't you apologizing to Fourth Brother right now?"

"I acted impulsively and spoke rudely. Please forgive me, Fourth Brother."

Zhang Kun immediately knelt on one knee before Li Cheng, bowed his head in apology, and continued, taking over the words from his eunuch godfather:

"Fourth Brother, I have finally managed to build up the river engineering camp. I beg you to give me a guarantee."

If there is any problem with the materials, causing delays or even damaging the moat of the nine gates of Dajun, I cannot bear the consequences!

"...Godfather, this was something we discussed back then."

Li Cheng ignored Zhang Kun, who was kneeling on one knee, turned to Zhang Ye, and smiled, saying:

"The reason for setting up the River Work Camp was to help Xu Bengao of the Embroidered Uniform Guard remove the word 'acting' from his title."

Now that Xu Bengao is about to remove the title of acting manager, what use is this river work camp?

The children don't keep all the money they earn for themselves; they share some with their sixty-sixth son.

If anything goes wrong, just make Chen Jizong the admiral and use him as a scapegoat.

Zhang Kun was taken aback. So that's how it is. No wonder Xu Bengao was embezzling salaries without working!

Li Cheng only came to interfere in the river engineering camp after learning about this news, wanting to get a share of the profits.

I'll kill your mothers!

The River Work Camp was a great project that could make money and get you promoted, provide disaster relief, and benefit the people of the capital.

You're all fixated on that little bit of money right in front of you, only wanting to make a quick buck and run. How short-sighted! You're both stupid and wicked!

Thinking of this, Zhang Kun suddenly stood up and questioned Li Cheng:

"Fourth Brother, what do you mean by saying the river works camp is useless?!"

The river works camp was approved by the Emperor himself, and its mission is to complete the dredging of the nine city gates and moats!

The imperial court also allocated 50,000 taels of silver annually from the Chongwenmen Xuanke Division to the River Works Camp.

If this cannot be accomplished, how can I, as the supervisor of the river works, explain myself to the court and to His Majesty?!

Gripping the hilt of his knife, he took a few steps closer to Li Cheng, staring intently into his eyes, and said sternly:

"If His Majesty blames me, I won't care about brotherhood anymore. I can't let my godfather take the fall..."

"You bastard!"

Zhang Ye quickly interrupted Zhang Kun, stood up, and loudly reprimanded him:

"Are you out of your mind? What nonsense are you spouting?!"

Zhang Kun immediately knelt down before Zhang Ye and kowtowed several times.

Then he looked at Li Cheng and advised him:

"Fourth brother, today is the day the river work camp starts work. No matter what, the first gate of the river work camp must be handled well."

If things are handled well outside Xuanwumen, it will be satisfactory to all parties involved. Besides, you also have a share in Liulichang, so you can make a profit there.

As for the supplies deal, we can discuss that later, shall we?

It is true that Li Cheng is Zhang Ye's adopted son, but now Li Cheng has been promoted to the de facto head of the Imperial Horse Administration.

In the Imperial Horse Administration, Li Cheng's position was second only to Zhang Ye, and Zhang Ye could no longer treat Li Cheng as his adopted son.

Zhang Ye was standing, and Li Cheng, of course, wouldn't sit either. He stood up and bowed, saying:

"I will listen to my godfather. This matter is also thanks to my godfather for smoothing things over with the Ministry of Works and freeing up the land in Liulichang."

He glanced at Zhang Kun kneeling on the ground and said, "We'll discuss the materials deal later."

After Li Cheng left, Zhang Ye turned to Zhang Kun and sighed:

"Get up and hurry back to the city. Today is the day the river work camp starts work, and the river work camp can't do without you."

"Thank you, godfather!"

......

That night, after the opening banquet, Zhang Kun returned home and gradually the smile on his face disappeared.

He paced back and forth in the yard, biting his nails, scratching his head, and pondering his next move.

Although the eunuch godfather was biased towards Zhang Kun, he could not show too much favoritism.

After all, Li Cheng had already become a big shot with considerable influence, so we could only try our best to smooth things over.

This time, Zhang Kun can't rely too much on his eunuch godfather; he has to rely on himself.

Rely on yourself!

When Lao Tzu was killing bandits in Hejian, didn't he rely on himself—and a group of brothers under his command?

However, Li Cheng is simply not in the same league as the bandits, the Guo family, and Protector Qiu; his strength is far too great.

First and foremost were the horse-breeding warriors, all of them cavalry.

The unit was designated to have 3000 men, whose military status was registered under the three thousand households of the Imperial Guard: the Front, Rear, and Middle.

The horse-breeding warriors were initially composed of elites selected by the Yongle Emperor from the garrisons across the land, as well as strong Han Chinese who had escaped from the grasslands.

The number of people continued to increase. In addition to selecting elites and Han Chinese from the grasslands, there were also those who received imperial favors, donated horses, and became high-ranking officials and soldiers.

The number of people reached over 9000 during the Zhengde era and over 5000 during the Jiajing era.

Two years ago, in the 42nd year of the Wanli reign, a census was conducted, and of the 3647 people on the list, less than 1800 remained.

The roster of 1043 horses has been wiped out; the horse-breeding warrior has no horses left.

Then came the Fourth Guard Battalion, which was also entirely composed of cavalry.

It was mainly composed of soldiers from four personal guards: Tengxiang to the left and right, and Wuxiang to the left and right.

During the Zhengde era, the number of people reached over 15000, but during the Jiajing era, the number was reduced to a fixed 5430.

At the beginning of the Wanli reign, there were still 6549 people, which was also the number counted in the 42nd year of the Wanli reign:

Of the 7240 people on the roster, less than 4600 remain, and not a single horse is left.

It was the investigation in the 42nd year of the Wanli reign that allowed Li Cheng, who was still relatively inexperienced, to be appointed as the commander of the horse-breeding warriors and the Four Guards Battalion.

Although the horse-breeding warriors and the four guard battalions, like the Beijing garrison, had been completely reduced to forces with no combat capability.

However, a considerable number of the horse-breeding warriors were soldiers who were the brothers and nephews of eunuchs who had received imperial favors!

After all, not all eunuchs could get their brothers or nephews appointed as members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard through imperial favor; most could only become horse grooms or warriors.

In other words, Li Cheng, who was in charge of the horse-breeding warriors, had extensive connections within the eunuch circle!

Moreover, Li Cheng was in de facto control of the Imperial Horse Administration:

Although the Imperial Horse Administration was far inferior to the Directorate of Ceremonial, it could still hold its own against the Directorate of Palace Attendants and the Directorate of Imperial Supplies, making it the perennial second-ranked of the Twenty-Four Offices.

The Ming Dynasty twice established the Western Depot outside the Eastern Depot of the Directorate of Ceremonial, both times overseen by eunuchs from the Imperial Horse Administration!

What should I do...?

"Master, it's getting late, you should rest early."

Ning Xuan'er, wrapped in her outer garment, came out of the west wing, draped a warm robe over Zhang Kun, and advised him:

"It's cold outside, sir. If you need to think about something, go back inside and think about it. Don't catch a cold."

That's true. Instead of staying up all night scratching your head in frustration, it's better to get a good night's sleep.

"Okay, you should get some rest too."

Zhang Kun, who had put on a warm robe, nodded to Ning Xuan'er, telling her to go back to the west wing first.

Zhang Kun hasn't taken Ning Xuan'er under his wing yet, but he's already explained the reasons to her to prevent her from overthinking.

"......master,"

After hesitating for a moment, Ning Xuan'er volunteered to Zhang Kun:

"If you encounter any difficulties and urgently need to discuss them with Madam Cheng, you can send a message through me."

pass!?