Chapter 26: The whole court is one family
It was the end of the first month in the 40th year of the Jiajing reign.

Cabinet minister and tutor in Prince Yu's palace, Zhang Juzheng was formally ordered to set off southward to the southeastern provinces of Nanzhili and Zhejiang as an imperial envoy.

Supervise the increase in silk production and marketing overseas to increase revenue for the court.

Yan Shaoting originally wanted to go and see them off, but thinking of the identities of both parties, in order to avoid upsetting the people present, he did not go.

However, as Zhang Juzheng left Beijing and headed south, several letters were sent out from the Yan Mansion and headed southeast.

By the end of the month.

The Ministry of Works has also begun to arrange personnel to dismantle the palaces in the Forbidden City that are no longer inhabited and transport the materials to the Western Garden.

Cleanup work is also being carried out simultaneously in Xiyuan.

On this day, the weather in Beijing gradually warmed up.

Yan Shaoting washed and dressed early at home, then took his lackey Yan Hu and went out of Chaoyang Gate towards Tongzhou.

Years ago, Lu Bing, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, left commander-in-chief of the Rear Army Governor's Office, and childhood playmate of Emperor Jiajing, passed away.

His third son Lu Yi followed the emperor's order to take charge of his father's funeral and buried him in the east of the city (near the east of Sanlitun).

Today is the day Lu Yi returns to the city.

The reason why Yan Shaoting had to go out of the city to welcome him was because he and Lu Yi were both responsible for supervising the reconstruction of Wanshou Palace.

Secondly, it is because Yan Shaoting is the son-in-law of the Lu family, and Lu Yi is his brother-in-law.

The master and servant rode their horses on the road, neither hurried nor slow, with a sense of spring outing.

The lackey Yan Hu looked unhappy: "So our family is the son-in-law of Mr. Lu? Zhu Shitai, Xu Ying, Wu Shou and others are not the sons-in-law of Mr. Lu?"

In fact, there was also Sun Xiang, the fifth son of Sun Sheng, the Nanjing Minister of Personnel, who was also Lu Bing's son-in-law.

But this guy seemed to be a short-lived person and died early.

Yan Shaoting remained silent, but he had some admiration for his father-in-law who passed away last year.

Look at the girls from the Lu family, what kind of families they married into.

The eldest daughter married Zhu Shitai, the eldest son of the current Duke of Chengguo Zhu Xizhong. The line of Duke of Chengguo can be traced back to Zhu Neng, a famous general during the Jingnan Rebellion of Emperor Yongle.

He, the eldest son of the Yan family, married Lu Bing's second daughter.

The third daughter of the Lu family married Xu Ying, the third son of Xu Jie.

The fourth daughter married that short-lived ghost Sun Xiang.

The youngest, the fifth, married Wu Shou, the eldest son of Wu Peng, the current Minister of Personnel.

Each of them is either a meritorious official of the country or a cabinet minister, and at the very least, a minister of one of the two capitals or six ministries.

And these are not all the marriages that Lu Bing arranged during his lifetime.

Lu Bing himself married many women from famous and prominent families.

Lu Bing's first wife was the cousin of Wu Peng, the Minister of Personnel. His third wife was the niece of Huang Jin, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, the daughter of Zhang Rong, the Earl of Anding, and the daughter of Zhao Zupeng, a Jinshi from East Zhejiang.

Lu Bing's younger brother Lu Wei married the niece of Guangning Earl Liu Tai.

Thinking of this, Yan Shaoting couldn't help but reveal a helpless smile.

If we count based on these, most of the families in the Beijing court are related, and the whole court is one family.

Strictly speaking, I have to call Xu Jie my father-in-law (brother-in-law, aunt, and sister's father).

Yan Shaoting now thought that if Xu Jie and others said that they were members of the Yan Party next time, he could reply that they were all members of the Yan Party by marriage.

The reason why the lackey Yan Hu was somewhat indignant was that several families were in Beijing, but only the brother-in-law Yan Shaoting went out of the city to pick up his brother-in-law Lu Yi.

Seeing that the eldest young master ignored him, Yan Hu probably thought that the young master was also angry, so he shut his mouth and dared not provoke him.

The master and servant rode eastward for a long time, and finally saw a group of people on the road ahead.

There were horses and carriages in the team, with dozens of people. On the carriages were flags of the Lu family.

Yan Hu immediately said, "Young Master, he is from Master Lu's family."

Yan Shaoting naturally saw it at this time and immediately rode his horse forward.

As they got closer, the Lu family's steward who was leading the way had already recognized the girl's husband's family.

"Sir, it's the son-in-law of Yan's family who is here."

Lu Yi is only twenty years old this year, older than Yan Shaoting. However, because his two elder brothers passed away early in their lives and his father Lu Bing has also passed away, the Lu family now falls on his shoulders.

At this time, he was in the carriage, reminiscing about his father and the past with several sisters.

Hearing that Yan Shaoting was coming, Lu Yi, who looked a little tired, showed surprise and looked at his second sister.

"My second brother-in-law is here. I'll go out to greet him."

In the carriage, Lu Wenyan, the second daughter of the Lu family, hummed with a subtle smile on her face, and glanced at her eldest sister, third sister, and fifth sister.

The other three girls of the Lu family had calm expressions, but they were a little upset in their hearts.

The girls' little thoughts were not noticed by Lu Yi, the head of the Lu family. He had already gotten out of the carriage, stopped the team, and walked to the front of the team.

Seeing Yan Shaoting and his lackey Yan Hu coming over from afar, Lu Yi bowed and greeted them early.

"My second brother-in-law actually went out of town to greet me personally. Thank you very much, my second brother-in-law. It's been hard work."

Yan Shaoting arrived on horseback, dismounted nimbly, and came in front of Lu Yi. He looked his brother-in-law up and down, then patted him on the shoulder.

"Yucheng has been working hard recently. Knowing that you will be returning to the city today, I came early to pick you up. I will hold a banquet at your house and you can have a good rest for a few days."

Lu Yi's courtesy name is Yucheng, so Yan Shaoting called him that out of affection.

Lu Yi was a little surprised, because in the past, his second brother-in-law, who came from the Yan Party, seldom interacted with him.

He asked quietly, "Does my brother-in-law want to see my second sister?"

Yan Shaoting glanced at the carriage and shook his head, saying, "There will be plenty of time later. I came to pick you up today because you have worked hard at my father-in-law's funeral, and because of His Majesty's errand and some other matters."

Lu Yi nodded and said, "Is it about the reconstruction of Wanshou Palace?"

It was previously decided that the Minister of Works Lei Li would be in charge of the reconstruction of the Wanshou Palace, and he and Yan Shaoting would be responsible for supervision. Naturally, the court sent someone to deliver this news to Lu Yi.

Yan Shaoting nodded: "Supervising the reconstruction of Wanshou Palace is just a small matter. With an expert like Minister Lei here, we are just going through the motions. This time we are here for another matter."

"Oh?"

Lu Yi looked curious.

He had already mounted a horse at this time, and soon the two of them were riding side by side, leading the team behind them to continue heading towards Beijing.

Yan Shaoting just said at this time: "Did you know that my eldest brother-in-law had a fight with the Duke of Yingguo and the Duke of Dingguo at Fangchun Tower in South City during the Lantern Festival a few days ago?"

Lu Yi raised his eyebrows, but his eyes were secretly looking at the carriage behind him.

Zhu Shitai was his elder brother-in-law, and Fangchunlou was a place of entertainment favored by the powerful and wealthy in the capital.

My eldest brother-in-law had a fight with people from the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion and the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion in that place. You can guess what the reason was with just your toes.

But my elder sister is in the carriage now.

Lu Yi was a little timid and whispered, "But what did my brother-in-law do?"

Yan Shaoting shook his head: "No, I just want to ask you, do you have any censors or six-department censors in your family who you know well?"

Lu Yi became more and more confused and asked, "Brother-in-law, what are you going to do?"

Yan Shaoting curled his lips.

"Of course we're going to find someone to impeach our eldest brother-in-law!"

(End of this chapter)