Zhu Houzhao followed Liu Jin and came to a house.

“what’s up?”

Zhu Houzhao frowned and asked as soon as he sat down.

Liu Jin said carefully, “Your Majesty, there is news from the palace. The Queen Mother urged you to mobilize the military camp to build a mansion for the Shouning Marquis.”

Zhu Houzhao’s face darkened when he heard this.

The Queen Mother had told him about this a few days ago. Her attitude was very tough at that time, and he had not taken any action in the past few days. Now the Queen Mother began to urge him.

“Transferring to the military camp?”

Zhu Houzhao raised his voice.

“I have already said that I will not use the military camp to do the work of craftsmen. You go and tell the Queen Mother that I will not agree.”

“This……”

Liu Jin did not leave after hearing this, but instead looked embarrassed.

Zhu Houzhao’s face darkened.

“Ok?”

Liu Jin said, “Your Majesty, the people who came to the palace also brought a message from the Queen Mother.”

“What?”

“The Queen Mother… The Queen Mother said that building palaces and mansions in military camps was a custom during the time of the previous emperor. The previous emperor also often deployed military camps to build palaces. The Queen Mother… The Queen Mother also said that Your Majesty is still young and has just ascended the throne. He is not familiar with many things and is not yet old enough to rule the country. Some things will be handled by the Queen Mother. For example, the deployment of military camps to build palaces and mansions will be carried out according to the custom of the previous emperor…”

boom!

Zhu Houzhao grabbed the teacup on the table and slammed it down, scaring Liu Jin.

At this time, a ferocious look appeared on Zhu Houzhao’s face.

Seeing his appearance, Liu Jin knelt down and didn’t dare to say a word.

Although Zhu Houzhao was young, a few years younger than Jiang Ning, he was very shrewd. Under normal circumstances, he would not lose his composure like this, but at this moment he showed such a ferocious look. One can imagine the extent of his anger at this moment.

Liu Jin even lowered his head and dared not look at Zhu Houzhao.

After a while.

“I understand.”

Zhu Houzhao said softly.

Liu Jin couldn’t help but look up at Zhu Houzhao, whose face had now returned to calm.

“Daban, go tell Brother Jiang first that I have something to deal with and will be back later.”

“Yes.”

Liu Jin stood up and left carefully, leaving Zhu Houzhao alone in the room.

Zhu Houzhao sat for a while and then got up and left.

……

“Master Jiang, please wait a moment. His Majesty has some urgent government affairs to attend to, and will be back shortly.”

Liu Jin had just finished saying these words to Jiang Ning when Zhu Houzhao came back.

“Brother Jiang, sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Zhu Houzhao came and sat down opposite Jiang Ning, smiled, and then asked Liu Jin to leave.

“It’s okay, I didn’t have to wait long.”

Jiang Ning smiled.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, “It’s not really a government matter, it’s just some family affairs. My mother asked me to transfer the military camp to build a mansion for Shouning Marquis.”

“Marquis Shouning? Building a mansion?”

“Ah.”

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and then told the story in great detail, revealing some secrets of the imperial palace, and even mentioned Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang, who was inexplicably killed the year before.

“Ugh.”

Zhu Houzhao sighed and said, “Marquis Shouning and Marquis Jianchang who was assassinated the year before last were both spoiled by my father and mother. They often dispatched military camps to build mansions for them. They bullied men and women, occupied people’s land and acted recklessly. When my father was still alive, he often wanted to punish them but was stopped by my mother. This made them even more domineering.”

Zhu Houzhao said again: “Brother Jiang, I will not hide it from you. My two uncles were like this when my father was in power. They were protected by my mother and acted lawless. Even my father could not do anything about them.”

Zhu Houzhao now talked about a secret of the imperial palace.

“Brother Jiang, you don’t know that a few years ago when my father was still alive, my father invited Marquis Shouning and Marquis Jianchang to the palace for a banquet. These two took advantage of my father going to the toilet and put on my father’s Yishan crown. They were scolded and stopped by the eunuchs, and told my father about it. But in the end, nothing happened. The eunuch was beaten to death. In addition, they also raped the palace maids. They treated my royal eunuchs and palace maids like this, it’s hard to imagine how domineering they are to civilians.”

“Now that my father is dead, they have become even more violent and have accumulated deep resentment among the people. The death of Marquis Jianchang the year before last shocked the court and the people. Ministers from top to bottom believed that Marquis Jianchang was killed because of his many evil deeds, but Marquis Shouning did not think about the fate of his brothers and is still the same. Now he is even instigating my mother to transfer the military camp to build a mansion for him. The soldiers in the military camp are for fighting, but they treat them as craftsmen. This is why the military preparations of my Ming Dynasty are in disrepair!”

Zhu Houzhao spoke a lot in a very eloquent manner, and Jiang Ning listened quietly without saying a word.

“Has there been any result regarding the death of Marquis Jianchang two years ago?”

Jiang Ning suddenly asked.

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said, “No, when the Marquis of Jianchang died, he was still in the room of a concubine. When he was found, he had already become a charred corpse. It is impossible to determine whether it was an accident or murder. However, many servants died in the Marquis of Jianchang’s mansion at that time. Based on this, the court ruled it as a murder.”

After Jiangning killed Marquis Jianchang and left the capital, the capital was in an uproar because of the incident of Marquis Jianchang. The capital was turned upside down, but no one could find out who killed Marquis Jianchang. It has remained an unsolved case until now.

Jiang Ning nodded and asked, “Who do you think did it?”

Zhu Houzhao couldn’t help but laugh and said, “How would I know?”

Jiang Ning also laughed.

After a while.

Jiang Ning stood up.

“gone.”

It was already late, and Jiang Ning usually left at this time, so Zhu Houzhao nodded. After Jiang Ning left, Zhu Houzhao’s expression became solemn again.

He knew that Jiang Ning’s last smile meant that he had seen through his thoughts.

Chapter 554: Leaving the Capital

Jiang Ning didn’t come the next day.

“Your Majesty, Hero Jiang probably won’t be here today.”

Liu Jin said.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao had been waiting in this courtyard for a whole morning.

Zhu Houzhao didn’t say anything. He sat for a while, then stood up, looked at the courtyard and said.

“Go back to the palace.”

“Yes.”

Liu Jin bowed in response.

……

“Junior brother, you came back earlier today than before.”

Chen Mansion.

Linghu Chong was drinking in the garden when he suddenly saw Jiang Ning coming back.

In the past, Jiang Ning would always come back at 3 p.m. after going out. But now, Jiang Ning came back at just before noon. Linghu Chong couldn’t help but feel curious.

“Nothing to do today.”

Jiang Ning came and sat down opposite Linghu Chong and said, “Big Brother, we will be leaving Beijing and returning to Huashan tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

Linghu Chong nodded and took another sip of the wine happily.

Jiang Ning looked at him and said, “Big Brother, don’t get drunk.”

Now Jiang Ning was too lazy to mention that drinking was harmful to the body. Linghu Chong didn’t care whether it was harmful or not, so Jiang Ning could only remind him not to get drunk.

“Junior brother, don’t worry.”

Linghu Chong chuckled.

Since he was allowed to drink, Jiang Ning hasn’t paid much attention to him recently, which makes Linghu Chong so happy.

Seeing Linghu Chong’s addiction to alcohol, Jiang Ning shook his head and said a few more words to Linghu Chong. Then someone came over here.

“Mr. Jiang.”

The person who came was Chen Qingyuan’s daughter Chen Jin.

“Miss Chen.”

Jiang Ning nodded. “What’s the matter?”

“Mr. Jiang, I heard there will be a flower and lantern festival on the riverside west of the city tonight. Many people will go. I heard it will be very lively. I was invited by the daughter of the Minister of Rites to go with her. There will be other people there. I wanted to ask if you want to go with us?”

Chen Jin looked at Jiang Ning with a pair of bright eyes, full of expectation.

Jiang Ning smiled and declined, “I’m not interested in these, so I won’t go.”

Chen Jin was obviously disappointed, but he just nodded and left.

Linghu Chong, who was seeing this, couldn’t help but sigh.

“The falling flowers have feelings, but the flowing water is merciless.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Ning glanced at him and Linghu Chong immediately shut up.

Linghu Chong was drinking, and Jiang Ning also picked up a book and started reading. It was not until the evening that Chen Qingyuan returned from the Ministry of Revenue.

“Master Jiang, Master Linghu, the Ministry of Revenue has been busy these past few days, so please forgive me for not being able to take good care of you.”

Chen Qingyuan came to the garden and said to Jiang Ning and the others.

“Minister Chen is in charge of important court affairs, so it is understandable that he is busy.”