The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun.

"The servant understands."

Gu Dayong quickly said, then got up and walked outside.

After Gu Dayong left, Jiang Ning looked at Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao was seen clutching the confession tightly in his hand, gritting his teeth, and tears streaming down his face.

Chapter 658: Zuo Shunmen

Seeing Zhu Houzhao's expression, Jiang Ning didn't know what was written on the confession, but he knew that Zhu Houzhao needed to be alone for a while.

Without saying much, Jiang Ning put away the book, got up, and left.

After Jiang Ning left, Zhu Houzhao finally lost control of his emotions, which he had been holding back.

The confession was crumpled by Zhu Houzhao, who then burst into tears.

"Father Emperor!!"

The emperor wept bitterly.

……

Another day has passed, and tomorrow is the morning court session, but yesterday a major event that shocked the capital occurred.

Because the Eastern Depot arrested two people, one of whom was a physician from the Imperial Medical Academy named Liu Wentai.

The arrest of this imperial physician by the Eastern Depot did not elicit much of a reaction from the court officials, because the physician was not of any importance. However, the Eastern Depot's action did provoke a reaction from some officials, but it was not significant.

What shocked the civil servants was something else entirely.

The Minister of War, one of the six ministers, was arrested and imprisoned.

This incident shocked the capital and greatly alarmed the court officials.

They had been impeaching the Eastern Depot for the past few days, but the Eastern Depot not only did not stop, but also imprisoned the Minister of War. This had already angered the civil officials. Before dawn today, a large group of civil officials came to Zuoshun Gate, knelt down, and wailed, demanding to see Zhu Houzhao.

"How disgusting."

Zhu Houzhao stood on a high point in the distance, looking at the large group of officials kneeling down, and sneered.

Jiang Ning was also there at the time. He was reading a book when Zhu Houzhao suddenly said he wanted to see a good show, so he came here.

Upon hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, Jiang Ning remained silent, his gaze sweeping across the crowd before settling on one of them.

Chen Qingyuan is here too?

Chen Qingyuan was formerly the prefect of Hanzhong. His wife and daughters were violated by Tian Boguang. Later, he was promoted to the capital and served as the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He had also had several interactions with Jiang Ning. He never expected that the other party would come here today.

I just don't know if the other party was involved in anything.

At this moment, Chen Qingyuan, who was kneeling on the ground in the crowd, buried his head in the ground and had a bitter expression on his face.

To be honest, he didn't really want to come, but the fact that Gu Dayong had imprisoned the Minister was too big, which angered many officials, who all wanted to come to Zuoshun Gate in groups, and he was dragged along as well.

"What a grand display! All five ministers of the six ministries except the Minister of War have arrived, along with members of the cabinet. Are they trying to force the emperor to abdicate?"

Zhu Houzhao sneered.

"Aren't you going to see me?"

Jiang Ning asked.

"not see."

Zhu Houzhao said.

"Tomorrow will be the day when I confront them."

Zhu Houzhao actually used the word "confrontation," which shows how much he loathed these civil officials.

Jiang Ning stayed there for a while, and then left.

He wasn't interested in any of that and planned to go back to reading.

He has now reached the end of the fourth level of the Innate Skill, and is only one step away from breaking through to the fifth level. However, this one step seems like an insurmountable chasm. At this point, continuing to cultivate diligently is of little use, so Jiang Ning devotes more time to reading.

After Jiang Ning left, Zhu Houzhao watched for a while longer, but then felt bored and prepared to go back. At that moment, a group of people hurriedly headed towards Zuoshun Gate not far away.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to rebel? Get out of here right now!"

Gu Dayong was both shocked and furious, and his face turned pale.

He never expected that after arresting the Minister of Revenue yesterday, this group of civil officials would dare to collectively stage a coup at Zuoshun Gate.

Gu Dayong, who already knew some of the inside information, was even more alarmed. Upon hearing that the civil officials had arrived at Zuoshun Gate, he rushed over with his men like a cat with its fur standing on end, trying to scare them away.

But he was met with a mouthful of spit.

"Castrated dog!"

A civil official glared at Gu Dayong with eyes blazing with fury, his teeth clenched as if he wanted to devour him.

"You have deceived the Emperor, blocked his ears, flattered those in power, manipulated authority, and wantonly persecuted his most trusted ministers!"

Gu Dayong's expression was cold, and he forced himself to remain calm.

"I am here on orders to arrest people. What does this have to do with you? If you continue to cause trouble, don't blame me for being impolite!"

This was the first time Gu Dayong had ever seen such a scene. Although he appeared calm, he was inwardly panicked.

"By imperial decree? How could His Majesty, a wise and sagacious ruler, issue an order to a eunuch like you to persecute loyal officials? It must be that you eunuchs are trying to interfere in state affairs and harm loyal officials. How can we tolerate your reckless behavior!"

Gu Dayong's words did nothing to frighten the group of officials who had been tyrannical for eighteen years during the Hongzhi reign. On the contrary, they were even more enraged, and some civil officials were already looking at him with eagerness.

Gu Dayong was terrified by the scene, especially when he saw the group of civil officials getting up from the ground as if they were about to pounce on him. The Eastern Depot agents who came with him were also frightened and dared not draw their knives. Gu Dayong fled in fear, lacking the vigor and enthusiasm he had shown in the previous days when he had searched the entire city.

Upon seeing this, the civil officials laughed heartily as if they had won a great battle.

Seeing this scene from afar, Zhu Houzhao's expression gradually darkened.

Gu Dayong is not up to the task.

Since ascending the throne, he has experienced many things, including playing games with this group of civil officials and being poisoned and cursed. He has realized that no official in the court can be trusted. In the future, if he wants to fight against this group of officials, he can only rely on eunuchs, the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. But now, Gu Dayong is acting so cowardly in the face of the civil officials banding together. How can he use him?

Zhu Houzhao's face darkened, and he lost interest in continuing to read, so he turned and left.

Upon returning to the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Houzhao saw Jiang Ning sitting outside reading a book again. He was about to speak when he suddenly stopped.

"what?"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Jiang Ning with a hesitant expression. For some reason, he felt that Jiang Ning seemed to be in a special state, as if he was not right.

Jiang Ning was reading a book, but he remained completely still, as if frozen in time.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know what had happened, but his intuition told him that he couldn't speak at this moment. After a while, Jiang Ning moved slightly, as if he had come to his senses and looked in his direction.

He wondered if it was just his imagination, but he also felt that Jiang Ning seemed to have changed, yet he also felt that he hadn't.

"Brother Jiang, what happened to you just now? Why were you so still?"

"Sometimes I have a feeling, and sometimes I have an epiphany."

Jiang Ning didn't say much, only offering one explanation.

He had been reading the Daoist Canon for the past few days. After reading so much, he unknowingly entered a mysterious state just now. In that state, he felt like he was about to break through, but in the end, he didn't.

Jiang Ning experienced this profound state several times when he was weak. Each time, it would increase his internal strength and speed up his cultivation. This time, although it did not allow him to break through to the fifth level, nor did it greatly increase his internal strength, since he had already reached a bottleneck and his internal strength would not increase, it did give him more insights and brought him one step closer to breaking through.

Jiang Ning has a peaceful state of mind.

For some reason, Jiang Ning suddenly thought of someone at this moment.

He recalled Dongfang Bubai, whom he had only met once on Blackwood Cliff.

Chapter 659: The Qianqing Palace Catches Fire

"Ok."

Zhu Houzhao nodded without asking any further questions, as he didn't understand martial arts.

A day passes in the blink of an eye, and today is the day for the morning court session.

Zhu Houzhao went to the Fengtian Hall to play chess with his court officials before dawn and didn't return until noon.

When Zhu Houzhao returned, his face was ashen, and he didn't say a word, looking extremely angry.

"what happened?"

Jiang Ning asked.

Zhu Houzhao then recounted what had happened at the morning court session.

Today, as soon as the court session began, all the civil officials were impeaching the Eastern Depot for arresting court officials without cause, demanding that Gu Dayong be severely punished and the Eastern Depot be abolished. This was naturally within Zhu Houzhao's expectations. He had been keeping the fact that he had been poisoned with a curse a secret until this morning's court session, which caused an uproar among the civil and military officials.

The civil officials were furious that the Eastern Depot had so brazenly arrested those officials, even dismembering one of them in prison. They had intended to impeach him severely at the morning court session to force the emperor to release him. However, those officials were plotting to assassinate the emperor, and the evidence was conclusive. The officials involved had already confessed, leaving them speechless. Several of the most vocal critics at the beginning of the morning court session quietly retreated to the back, fearing they would be mistaken for accomplices.

This matter was considered closed, with Zhu Houzhao emerging victorious in the power struggle between Zhu Houzhao and the civil officials. The next step was the arrest and imprisonment of the current Minister of War.

This Minister of War was a man of great renown, a veteran official of four reigns, highly respected and virtuous. Many in the court were his protégés. Now that he had been arrested and imprisoned, many officials in the court submitted memorials on his behalf. Even though this Minister of War was the big fish implicated in the poisoning of the emperor, many officials defended him, believing that those officials were making baseless accusations. They demanded that the Eastern Depot hand him over to the Three Judicial Offices for joint trial, which greatly angered Zhu Houzhao.

The Three Departments consist of the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate. Joint trials by the Three Departments are usually for major cases, such as treason and corruption. Now, the Minister of War is involved in the case of using witchcraft against the emperor, which is equivalent to treason. It is in the procedure to have the Three Departments jointly try the case. It is reasonable for the civil officials to make such a request. However, Zhu Houzhao knows that if he really hands the man over, he will lose.

These officials were in cahoots. If the person were handed over, the interrogation process would be beyond Zhu Houzhao's control. The initiative would be in the hands of the civil officials. Based on Zhu Houzhao's understanding of these civil officials over the past two years, he had no doubt that they could clear the name of the Minister of War.

Zhu Houzhao had great ambitions. He had always wanted to completely control the court, and now this was an opportunity. The imprisonment of the Minister of War gave him an opportunity. As long as he could solidify the evidence, the Minister of War would fall, and the civil official group would suffer a heavy blow. Zhu Houzhao could then suppress the civil official group while supporting his own people and strengthening imperial power.

This morning at court, Zhu Houzhao was vying with the civil officials over what appeared to be a struggle for the right to handle cases, but in reality, it was a power struggle between the imperial authority and the civil official group.

However, the morning court session today debated for a long time without reaching a conclusion.

But what angered Zhu Houzhao was not this point; what truly angered him was Gu Dayong.

During the morning court session today, when the power to handle cases was being contested, only Zhu Houzhao was vying with the civil official group, while Gu Dayong remained timid and dared not utter a word.

The Minister of War is currently in the Eastern Depot's prison. Normally, it should be Gu Dayong, the head of the Eastern Depot, who is vying for power with the civil officials. However, Gu Dayong did not argue his case in the face of strong resistance from the civil official group. Instead, the emperor himself had to step in to fight for the right to handle the case. This made Zhu Houzhao very disappointed in Gu Dayong.

This was also what angered Zhu Houzhao so much that he wouldn't allow Gu Dayong to follow him after court.

"I originally thought that Liu Jin was not suitable for the time being, and Gu Dayong had performed well these past few days, so I promoted him to counterbalance the ministers in the court. I never expected that he would be so useless, and the great situation has turned into what it is now."