The carriage drove straight into the stadium.

The players hurriedly helped to lift the beloved Mr. Zhang into the car. Someone whispered to You Qi, "Mr. Chu Bin, what happened?"

You Qi shook his head solemnly without saying a word, bowed to everyone, and got into the carriage.

The door slammed shut and the carriage sped away, leaving the officials looking at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what had happened.

"Are we still playing ball here?" The nobles were relatively detached, and the Duke of England was still concerned about his own ranking.

"The sky is about to fall, and you are still playing ball." Duke Dingguo rolled his eyes at him and said, "Pack up and go home."

The nine ministers, both big and small, were even more bored and their minds were no longer on the court.

Duke Dingguo's words were no exaggeration. Xianggong Zhang was now the sky of the Ming Dynasty. Although it was still unclear whether it would thunder or rain in the sky, it was certain that a big change was going to happen.

The organizing committee held an emergency meeting, and soon the chairman of the organizing committee came out in person to apologize and announce that due to special reasons, according to the "Timely Appraisal" of the "Competition Regulations", the competition was suspended and will be re-matched on a later date. He also gave all the players a gift - a box of commemorative Luzon cigars and a pair of nurse lighters, as a token of apology.

Naturally, all the players had no objection, and soon they scattered.

After sending all the ministers away, Zhao Liben, with the help of Zhao Shouzheng, got into Zhao Xian's luxurious carriage. There was a group of people in charge of the stadium, so the old man didn't need to worry about it.

The carriage started slowly, and Zhao Liben took the secret letter from Zhao Xianfeng.

"So that's how it is..." Zhao Liben suddenly realized what was happening after reading it and handed the letter to his son.

When Zhao Shouzheng saw it, his eyes immediately turned red and he said, "Oh, my old master is gone. It's so sad..."

As he spoke, he held his father's hand tightly and said, "Dad, you are two years older than my grandfather, so you must take care of yourself, don't run around and play so wildly..."

"Shut up!" Zhao Liben looked at Zhao Shouzheng, who was about to cry, and felt depressed. He thought that he was smart and capable in the past, known as a socialite in the officialdom, but he was only promoted to the position of vice minister in his sixties. And he was the right vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing.

This bastard was less than fifty years old but he had already become a vice minister, and even the right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Beijing, which was much more valuable than mine.

And now there is an opportunity to go further. This person is really irritating...

"Mr. Zhang probably doesn't have time to be sad right now. He has to think about his plans after the mourning period!" Zhao Liben took the glass of wine from his eldest grandson, took a sip of Li Shizhen's secret longevity wine, and teased his son:

"Is this also the reason why you're worried that I'll die?"

"Dad, why do you always think the worst of people?" Mr. Zhao said with tears in his eyes, "I sincerely hope that you live a hundred years, no, a thousand years!"

"Bullshit, wouldn't that make me a cuckold? I'll be content if I can live to be ninety-nine." Zhao Liben rolled his eyes and asked his grandson, "Does your brother know?"

"The message was first sent to Tangshan, and after consulting Zhao Hao, it was sent to Dashamao Hutong." Zhao Xian hurriedly replied: "My brother is on his way back and should be here tomorrow."

"Then wait until he comes back. I can think about the pros and cons." Zhao Liben sighed and said, "This matter is too difficult. If we are not careful, we will be doomed!"

~~

The carrier pigeon message Zhang Juzheng received was delivered by the "Carrier Pigeon Network" operated by the "Shenzhouxing Communications Company" jointly established by three major groups.

Breeding and training excellent homing pigeons is not an easy task. Moreover, homing pigeons fly one way, which further increases the difficulty of setting up a communication network.

At present, except for the Jiangnan integrated region and the two provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, where the "pigeon network" has been established at the prefectural level, the rest of the provinces only have pigeon stations in the provincial capitals or important commercial cities.

Given the status of Jiangling County, there was no pigeon station, not even in Jingzhou Prefecture. But because of the Zhang family, Zhao Hao opened a special line from Jiangling to Zhengzhou.

Zhang Wenming died late at night on September 13th. A carrier pigeon was released from Jiangling Pigeon Station in the early morning of the 14th. On the morning of the 15th, which was earlier today, a carrier pigeon arrived at the newly established Kaiping Station and was delivered to Zhao Hao, who had just returned from the capital.

After Mr. Zhao saw it, he felt terrible.

He dismissed his attendants and sat quietly on a hill, smoking a whole pack of cigarettes...

~~

Be it his grandfather, the bigwigs in the court, or even his father-in-law, no one knew what the death of Old Master Zhang meant.

He was a key figure in the first major political struggle during the Wanli Dynasty, which was a time of unity, progress and prosperity!

In this critical period when the reform was entering a deep water zone and land survey was about to be carried out nationwide, it can be said that Old Master Zhang died at a very inappropriate time. The court was divided into two factions over the issue of whether the Prime Minister should observe mourning.

Under the wild dance of the court stick, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the contradiction between Zhang Xianggong and the civil service group was completely exposed. After being completely humiliated and no longer having any image to speak of, Zhang Juzheng, who had always been cautious and patient, finally stopped pretending. He began to act recklessly and radically, and finally destroyed himself...

In this country where politics lasts only as long as the ruler survives, this means the failure of reform and declares that the empire is completely hopeless.

From this perspective, although Mr. Zhang Wenming was a disaster when he was alive, he left countless times more harm after his death.

Therefore, Zhao Hao has always been very concerned about his health. In order to let the old man live a few more years, Zhao Hao specially sent two famous doctors from Jiangnan Hospital, Wang Huan and Ba Yingkui, to Jiangling to serve as his health doctors in turn. He even prepared a precious penicillin. It can be said that he was worried about him.

This old Master Zhang is really a worry. His personality is the opposite of his son's. Master Zhang is mature and resolute at a young age, while Zhang Wenming becomes more and more naughty as he gets older, a complete jerk!

In fact, it is not difficult to understand, because Zhang Wenming is also a scholar. Although it is true that Zhang Juzheng was born to him, his ability to study should be a genetic mutation, and he did not inherit it from him at all... Zhang Wenming started taking exams when he was young, and failed seven times in a row, two more times than Mr. Zhao.

Even when his sons passed the imperial examination, he was still a failed scholar. The old man finally let it go. It turned out that studying was a matter of talent, and he was not cut out for it. He burned his books and never took the exam again. At first, those years were fine. He just played chess and wrote for fun.

As Zhang Juzheng's official position became higher and higher, and the Zhang family's wealth expanded rapidly, Zhang Wenming gradually began to become uncivilized. He wanted to take revenge for the past decades of humble and poor life, and began to let himself go like crazy...

Facts have proven that once people relax their moral standards, their depravity will be endless. The old man indulges in sensual pleasures, bullies men and women, never speaks out about bad things, and doesn't even consider himself a human being... He's already 70 years old and he still visits brothels!

The two doctors examined him and found that he had sores on the soles of his feet, pus on his head, and a whole body of problems. It was definitely a miracle that he could live to be seventy.

Maybe it was because bullying men and women was too satisfying that the old man was reluctant to die...

At first the old man refused to cooperate with the treatment, until the serious illness this spring left him bedridden, he got scared and begged the two miracle doctors to save himself and his little brother.

The two doctors treated him well for more than half a year and basically cured all his illnesses.

Wang Huan and Ba Yingkui were very optimistic and estimated that since he had passed through the gates of hell so early, the old man would not dare to live a life of debauchery anymore and would definitely live out his years as an obscene person.

Unexpectedly, the person still died.

But it wasn't that the doctor was incompetent, because the secret letter reported that the old man died of drunkenness and drowning...

~~

After Zhang Wenming recovered, he stayed at home for a few months, but his heart had already gone wild, just like a wild cat locked in a cage. It's so uncomfortable to be scratched by a cat.

Finally, he could not resist the repeated invitations from the Huguang gentry and agreed to attend the Double Ninth Festival Banquet at Yueyang Tower.

Who in the family could stop him? The lady had no choice but to let the eldest grandson follow his grandfather, telling him not to drink too much, not to sleep with prostitutes, and to go home early.

Zhang Wenming promised everything before he left, but he was no longer himself once he left. He let loose and had fun in Yueyang. It is said that the Chongyang Festival banquet must be held for nine consecutive days to count...

Finally, on the fifth day, something happened.

On September 13, a group of people boarded a luxurious three-story pleasure boat and went on a night of drinking, visiting prostitutes, gambling, and taking drugs on Dongting Lake.

After lighting the lamps at night, the fun was not diminished at all, and they continued the Dongting Night Banquet, ready to play all night long.

However, at midnight, Zhang Wenming drank too much and had to go to the bathroom with the help of a servant.

I don't know how they ended up falling into the water...

The Jinyiwei who was protecting Zhang Wenming on the boat heard the noise and rushed to check, but the lake was pitch black and it took a long time to fish the old man out.

Zhang Wenming was already extremely drunk, and he also took a lot of Wu Shi San, and soaked in the lake water for a quarter of an hour in September. How could anything go wrong?

He was unconscious when he was rescued and his stomach was as big as a ball. Wang Huan, who was on the boat, tried his best to save him but he couldn't see the sun the next day...

~~

Just from looking at this hastily written situation report by Wang Huan, Zhao Hao felt that it was quite suspicious.

For example, such a luxurious houseboat must have a dedicated toilet. Why did Zhang Wenming run to the stern of the cabin?

And the Jinyiwei that Feng Bao specially sent to protect him, why didn't they follow him at that time? Even Zhao Hao's security department knew that they must prevent the protected person from being in a dangerous, lonely, or dark environment. What's more, all three dangerous factors were present...

Of course, without further investigation, he couldn't say whether this was historical inertia or some people taking risks to fight against reform.

Alas, who made me have a preconceived idea that the old man died of illness, so I only sent a doctor?

Now I can't care about so many things. Because the love-stealing incident is still going to be triggered, the most urgent thing is to return to Beijing as soon as possible to stop my father-in-law from seizing my love!

But the problem was that the land survey was about to begin, and the reform had reached its most critical stage. During this period of mourning, Zhang Juzheng could not afford the possibility of the reform failing...

If I persuade my father-in-law to mourn at this time, will I be slapped in the face?

Oh, I’m in such a dilemma!

ps. Keep writing...