Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 167 The Emperor’s Closeness, Zhou Ming’s Confidence

Pei Ju came to find Zhou Ming, of course not really because of Zhou Ming's current profits.

It was because after the morning court session, the emperor's attitude towards him became much friendlier.

It surprised him for a moment.

After thinking about it, maybe something happened last night, so I came to ask.

Zhou Ming raised his eyebrows and said, "Then you really should thank me."

Then he told her what happened yesterday.

"I see... lifespan..."

Pei Ju nodded: "It is indeed a reason that can easily make people lose their guard."

There are many killers and assassins in the world who like to disguise themselves as old people, women, and children to carry out assassinations.

This is because these people are generally regarded as weak, which weakens their vigilance.

Pei Ju is a martial arts expert, and now he looks like a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties. No one would think that he is old.

In addition, since the emperor ascended the throne, he has been facing Cao Zhengchun and Zhu Wusi, two people, one open and one secret, who both want to seize his power and use him as a puppet.

Therefore, out of hatred for the whole family, he would naturally regard the other one of the three poles in the court, Pei Ju, as his enemy.

This was also the reason why the emperor and Pei Ju maintained the friendship between monarch and subject in the past, but did not show any closeness.

However, after Zhou Ming's reminder, the emperor suddenly realized that the Prime Minister Pei Ju, who looked very young, was actually very old.

Perhaps by the time he defeated Cao Zhengchun and Zhu Wusi and truly grew up, this Prime Minister would be old enough to retire and return home.

After changing his mindset, the emperor suddenly realized that the Prime Minister was actually a force that he could fully gain.

"So, I am still benefiting from your influence?"

Pei Ju said, "No wonder the emperor was so much tougher in the court today."

Although his work style remains the same as before, his personal temperament and confidence can still be seen in his eyes.

Zhou Ming was busy dealing with various matters today and paid no attention to the court. He asked, "What happened in the court?"

"That's all the stuff."

There is actually only one thing to discuss at this morning's court session.

That is to convict King Nanping.

With the two pieces of solid evidence from Steward Wang and the Prince of Nanping, there is basically no possibility of overturning this case.

The real focus is how to deal with the fiefdom of King Nanping.

They argued about this matter for several hours before finally settling it.

After all, there are huge interests involved.

The King of Nanping has lived in the south for generations, and it is unknown how many large families in the south he has close ties with.

I wonder how many families will be affected by the fall of Prince Nanping this time.

"What was the final result?"

"It will be the emperor's property."

"Hmm? The ministers in the court actually agree to this?"

"Because of that Gin who suddenly appeared yesterday."

Pei Ju said, "In exchange for Ye Gucheng's life, he left behind a Huangliang Pill. Now, the emperor has invited Master Zhang to live in the palace and intends to build a Dan Palace specifically for this purpose to study the pill."

"I see……"

Zhou Ming nodded.

The effectiveness of Huangliangdan is known to everyone in the world.

And this pill is now in the hands of the emperor.

The emperor had already sent a pigeon to deliver the letter in the middle of the night yesterday. Master Zhang was also very fast and had already arrived in the capital before the morning court session started.

The emperor handed the Huangliang Pill directly to Master Zhang, which instantly put an end to the ambitions of countless people.

Anyone in the world who wants to prolong life and regain youth can only obey the emperor's will at this moment, and have a chance to get a share of the pie after the research on Huangliangdan is completed.

Some ministers in the court had no choice but to agree in the end, no matter how reluctant they were.

"In addition, the emperor also directly used the power of this incident to achieve many goals."

First of all, as for the East Factory, Liu Xi still serves as the director of the East Factory.

Cao Zhengchun was credited with saving the emperor.

However, he did not return to the East Factory he had dreamed of, but was appointed by the emperor as the chief steward of the Imperial Palace, replacing the previous chief steward Wang, and was responsible for taking care of the emperor's daily life.

At the same time, they are also responsible for protecting the emperor's safety.

In terms of status, there has naturally been an improvement, but compared with the previous position of East Factory Supervisor, the power has obviously been greatly reduced.

However, Cao Zhengchun is no longer the director of the East Factory, but an old eunuch of the ninth rank.

With his contribution in rescuing the emperor, he was promoted to the chief eunuch, which can be said to be a huge promotion.

And there are also those great masters from before.

After investigation, it was found that the reason none of them showed up was because they were drunk.

But now that something of this importance has happened, they can be said to have committed serious dereliction of duty.

The emperor was furious and directly abolished the establishment of all the eunuchs. He wanted to select the best from among them to form the Baolong clan, and set up a system that was much stricter than before.

"With so many things being done, is there no one who objects? Especially those masters from the inner court?" Zhou Ming asked curiously.

Not to mention the East Factory, those masters of the Imperial Palace were actually very relaxed in the past.

The royal family has made great efforts to train them, but they usually have nothing to do except practicing martial arts.

But now they have all been laid off and transformed into a new dragon-protecting clan.

According to Pei Ju, the system of the Baolong clan is much stricter than that of the masters of the Imperial Palace. In addition to practicing martial arts, everyone must also participate in the daily patrols of the imperial palace.

Especially the protection of the emperor is of paramount importance.

Once this decision is made, the masters of the Imperial Palace will have only two options.

One way is to leave the palace, but they must join other departments of the court and serve the court until they repay all the resources invested by the royal family in them.

Another way is to join the Baolong clan, but you will have to bear a lot of work pressure from then on.

Although this so-called work pressure is far from the so-called 996, it is enough to work only eight hours a day.

But it can basically be said that we have bid farewell to the carefree days of the past.

"Even if they have the intention, they probably don't have the courage!"

Pei Ju said, "When the emperor made this decision, Master Zhang was watching from the side. Not to mention them, even Zhu Wusi could only remain silent, not daring to disobey in the slightest."

Zhou Ming suddenly felt a little regretful.

Although hundreds of millions of gold and silver were obtained from the King of Nanping and other sources in the capital, this day could be said to be extremely fulfilling.

However, it is a pity that we did not see the scene where the emperor took advantage of Master Zhang's power and bullied others, which was a bit regrettable.

"Speaking of which, how did Zhu Wusi influence those Imperial Guards to get them all drunk last night?"

"He, what he did can be said to be extremely brilliant."

According to the masters of the Imperial Palace, they bought a large amount of fine wine in August in preparation for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But because that day was the original time for the decisive battle between Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuxue, many swordsmen among the palace masters decided to go and watch the battle.

So the fine wines were put aside for the time being.

It was not until September 15th, when the moon was full again, that someone suggested taking out the fine wine and drinking it.

In the end, everyone got drunk.

This matter seemed flawless, and had nothing to do with Zhu Wusi. But if you think about it carefully, there are flaws everywhere.

I didn’t drink the wine I bought on August 15th, so I saved it for September 15th.

During this month, no one wants to drink a sip?
Besides, what if they drank all that wine? It's impossible for them all to be drunk!
You know, among the many masters of the Imperial Palace, there are at least twenty or more grandmasters.

How much wine would it take to make a grandmaster completely drunk?
What’s more, there are twenty of them!
"Zhu Wusi must have attacked them secretly while they were drinking."

Pei Ju said, "He does things much more cleanly than the East Factory."

Last night, the imperial guards arrived late in the palace, and none of the many palace masters showed up because they were affected by two forces respectively.

The one that influenced the imperial guards was the East Factory.

The one who influenced those imperial masters was Zhu Wusi.

But as long as we investigate the affairs of the East Factory carefully, we will always be able to find some flaws.

However, Zhu Wusi's actions could be said to be flawless.

Not to mention the emperor, even the masters of the palace had no idea that they were being persecuted. They simply thought that they were greedy and drank too much, which caused trouble.

Zhu Wusi was clearly deeply involved in the entire incident and might even be the ultimate beneficiary.

But he looked like he didn't know about it from the beginning to the end.

Pei Ju couldn't help but admire the cleverness of the method.

It can only be said that Zhu Wusi was an ambitious man, but for so many years he had been regarded as the pillar of the country by the entire court, the martial arts world, and the people. His ability to disguise was unparalleled.

In the entire world, there are only a handful of people who can detect his true face.

One is his old rival Cao Zhengchun.

One is a young but very wise emperor.

In addition, Pei Ju and Zhou Ming must also be included.

Even if the dead Gu Santong was added, the number would only barely make up a handful.

Apart from them, no one, whether it was the Queen Mother, the Princess, other members of the royal family, or Zhu Wusi's adopted sons and daughters, could see through his disguise.

Maybe even the late emperor was deceived.

Otherwise, he might not have given Zhu Wusi such great power before his death.

After all, Zhu Wusi is a member of the royal family.

From the same lineage as the emperor.

He naturally has the best foundation to compete for the throne.

"After saying so much, is there anything that shows the emperor's closeness to you?" Zhou Ming asked.

Pei Ju said, "After everyone else left, the emperor specifically kept me here to discuss the selection of concubines to fill the harem."

"So fast?"

"Huh? Don't tell me, are you instigating this again?"

"How can you say I'm instigating this? I'm trying to persuade the Emperor to rise up and establish the foundation of his country as soon as possible!"

"No wonder he came directly to me..." Pei Ju didn't continue to play tricks on Zhou Ming: "This is a waste of your time."

The emperor wanted to select concubines to fill his harem.

For such matters, no matter how anxious the emperor was, he could not bring it up himself. He could only wait for the empress dowager or a minister in the court to bring it up.

So the emperor asked Pei Ju to stay alone to discuss this matter, actually he wanted Pei Ju himself, or someone else to bring it up at the morning court later.

That way he can proceed smoothly.

But logically speaking, even if the emperor had become slack towards Pei Ju, it was impossible for him to show such closeness immediately.

This is entirely because this opinion was put forward by Zhou Ming.

The emperor probably thought that Zhou Ming had told Pei Ju everything that happened in the palace last night.

Based on the principle that the fewer people who know about something, the better, Pei Ju was left behind to talk about this matter alone.

But he didn't know that Zhou Ming didn't even mention it to Pei Ju.

However, Pei Ju's acting skills were superb, and the emperor didn't notice anything at all.

"The emperor didn't see it, what about the real person?"

"How could the emperor possibly say this next to Master Zhang when talking about this kind of thing?"

"I mean, did Master Zhang see my adoptive father's cultivation level?"

Pei Ju's eyes moved slightly, he thought about it carefully, and finally shook his head: "No."

"Foster father, you'd better be careful. Right now, we have to research the Huangliang Pill, and the emperor is actually building a Dan Palace. I'm afraid Master Zhang will have to stay in the capital for a while."

"impossible……"

Pei Ju shook his head and said, "The Emperor only talks about the Dan Palace. It's impossible for it to be built. Master Zhang can't stay in the capital for long. Otherwise, how can the rules of the court be enforced?"

It seems that Master Zhang's arrival has nothing to do with the court.

But his influence was actually enormous.

Just like today, the reason why the emperor was able to smoothly advance all his initiatives, including taking back the fiefdom of King Nanping, abolishing the palace masters, and forming the Baolong clan.

To a large extent, it all depends on having Master Zhang by my side.

Otherwise, even if these things could be pushed forward, they would probably be constantly obstructed by ministers, Zhu Wusi and others, and it would take a lot of effort to implement them smoothly.

It’s not like now, where all the problems are solved in less than a day.

But it only happened once or twice.

If Master Zhang really lives in the capital for a long time.

The emperor would be pleased, but I'm afraid none of the civil and military officials in the court would agree.

Just as Pei Ju said, the rules of the court do not allow such things to happen.

It's like a game. As an emperor, it's okay if you have a little advantage.

But you still want to cheat?
It's okay to cheat, but you actually want to cheat every day?
So what's so fun about this crappy game?

Although this game in the court can be stopped at any time, if the civil and military officials in the court are really angered, the game will definitely not be able to continue!

"Master Zhang is also a wise man. I think in a few days, he will take the initiative to ask to leave the capital and return to Wudang."

Pei Ju asserted, "As for the Huangliang Pill, he will naturally bring it to Wudang. The so-called Dan Palace will only be built on Wudang Mountain, not in the imperial palace."

Zhou Ming nodded.

This is normal.

As the night deepened, Pei Ju finished talking about what happened in the court and got up to leave.

Walking on the covered bridge.

Pei Ju's expression gradually became dull, and his eyes gradually became deep.

It’s not just the emperor who is more confident today than ever before.

And Zhou Ming.

The changes brought about by this confidence were extremely obvious in his eyes.

However, the emperor was confident because Master Zhang was in the palace.

And what makes Zhou Ming so confident?
Within the portable space.

Jian Yue sat cross-legged, no longer showing his previous madness.

On the contrary, the Demon Lord on the other side was already a little anxious.