Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 902: Face to Face
"Excuse me, are you Madam Liu Shuzhen from Shuidong?" Jiang Lin came in front of Liu Shuzhen and put away the fierce look of the Jinyiwei who could stop children from crying at night. Instead, he asked politely with a very courteous attitude.

"It is I." Seeing the visitor's politeness, Liu Shuzhen also bowed in accordance with her clan's etiquette. "I wonder if you are..."

"Oh, I am Jiang Li, the commander of the emperor's personal army, Jinyiwei. I am here on the orders of His Majesty to welcome Madam to the palace for an audience." Jiang Li said. "The emperor has always known that Shuidong is respectful and is also very concerned about the affairs of the southwest. When he heard that Madam had come from a thousand miles away, he ordered us to come and welcome Madam... I wonder if Madam is free now? His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are already waiting in the Jinshen Palace."

Liu Shuzhen was overjoyed when she heard this and hurriedly said, "It's convenient, of course it's convenient. The Emperor is so gracious, there's no reason for him to wait for so long!"

"Commander Jiang, let's go to the palace now! The situation in the southwest cannot be delayed. We must present this matter to His Majesty as soon as possible!"

Jiang Li nodded expressionlessly, and asked his subordinates to escort Liu Shuzhen and others, and was about to leave the Ministry of Rites. At this time, Chen Di, the Minister on duty at the Ministry of Rites today, heard that the commander of the Jinyiwei had come in person, and hurriedly ran out to greet him with his official robe in hand: "Master Jiang is here, and our Ministry of Rites is really honored."

"I wonder if you are here to ask my Ministry of Rites for help with something? Please be frank..." Chen Di said in a very humble manner.

The Jinyiwei was notorious. In the past, during the Hu Weiyong case and the empty seal case, countless civil servants and clerks died in the imperial prison. Whenever these officials passed by the Jinyiwei yamen, they could see countless miserable wandering souls floating above the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division... Jiang Li was usually serious, but his actions were worse than those of the previous commander Mao Xiang. Moreover, Jinyiwei secret spies were spread all over the Ming Dynasty. No one knew whether Jinyiwei had the handle that could determine their life and death.

Therefore, although officials like Chen Di hated the existence of the Jinyiwei, they dared not show it on their faces. On weekdays, they had to be respectful and treat them as guests of honor.

"Oh, the threshold of the Ministry of Rites is so high. What qualifications do we, the Jinyiwei, have to dare to send the Ministry of Rites to do things?" Jiang Li sneered and glanced coldly at Huang Zicheng who was standing in the corner.

"Your Ministry of Rites can isolate the inside and outside, and you have all the connections. How dare you, a mere official, reprimand the wives and relatives of a second-rank official, and even ignore His Royal Highness the King of Zhou. I, the Jinyiwei, dare not offend you."

"My men, keep your tails between your legs. Our status is not comparable to that of His Royal Highness the King of Zhou. If we anger the officials in the Ministry of Rites, we, the Jinyi Guards, will not be able to survive in Yingtian Prefecture."

Zhu Su asked Zhu to send Mao Xiang, the first commander of the Jinyiwei, to Fengmingzhou, thus avoiding the tragedy of Mao Xiang being abandoned after his death. Therefore, Jiang Lin, the second commander, had a very good impression of Zhu Su and naturally would not be stupid enough to provoke Zhu Su.

He was an extremely calm and capable man, and he knew clearly that the emperor had set up the Jinyiwei as a sharp knife to remove the rotten flesh of the court...If one day this sharp knife of his was used up like the previous one Mao Xiang, he might have to rely on His Royal Highness Prince Zhou to save his life.

"Hahahahaha." The taciturn commander was sarcastic for once, and the group of arrogant Jinyi Tiqi naturally laughed in unison. Their wild laughter made the officials of the Ministry of Rites feel a chill on their necks. Chen Di, the most senior official here, turned pale, wondering why Jiang Lin was like this.

Jiang Li was too lazy to talk to them any more. After he finished mocking them, he glanced at the frightened Huang Zicheng and then led his men away.

"Tell me, what happened?"

"How did you guys offend those living devils of the Jinyiwei?" As soon as the Jinyiwei and the Shuidong people left, Chen Di questioned the leaders with a gloomy face.

"Sir, we dare not anger those lackeys of the Imperial Guards."

"It was Huang Zicheng, the boss Huang... He, he was arguing with that Shuidong woman before..." Someone timidly gave away Huang Zicheng.

Chen Di looked slightly angry and told the whole story.

"I thought you were a learned man and I couldn't bear to see talented people neglected in the wild, so I hired you as a leader... I didn't expect that you would use the little power in your hands to abuse your power and obstruct the important affairs of the court. You almost brought shame to my Ministry of Rites for being incompetent!" Chen Di looked at Huang Zicheng and scolded angrily.

He was one of the few traditional scholars in the court. Because he was cautious and had no record of corruption, he was able to protect himself until now.

Among the officials of the Ministry of Rites, a large number of them were scholars who were proficient in the old learning. After all, the new learning's study of old papers was far less profound than the old learning.

The old school is proficient in this. It is precisely because Huang Zicheng is proficient in this matter that he was selected by the Ministry of Rites to be a principal.

But at this point, he had undoubtedly caused a huge disaster...

"Mr. Minister, I..." Huang Zicheng opened his mouth to defend himself. He believed that the behavior of those people in Shuidong was indeed not in compliance with the rules, and his behavior of stopping them was barely justifiable...

Unexpectedly, Chen Di didn't even give him a chance to speak, but instead said coldly: "From tomorrow on, you don't have to come here to report!"

"As a small official, you dare to delay the important events in the southwest, and even slander the prince in a roundabout way."

"If he becomes the chief official someday, won't he ruin the whole world?"

"Go, go, and study on your own! My Ministry of Rites is a small temple that cannot accommodate a giant like you!"

As he said that, Chen Di called the guards and threw Huang Zicheng out of the main hall of the Ministry of Rites in front of everyone. The guards at the door crossed their axes and stopped Huang Zicheng, who was struggling to crawl into the Ministry of Rites again.

It also completely cut off his official career.

"...This, this, oh God, what sin have I, Huang Zicheng, committed..." Huang Zicheng only felt that the world was dark. With his hair and face dirty, he looked up to the sky and cried out, beating his chest and stamping his feet.

"Dad, Dad, what happened to that man?"

"... Hush, don't talk too much. I don't know where this crazy scholar came from... This kind of crazy person always thinks he is superior and thinks he is suitable to be an official!"

A father and son, a porter, happened to pass by and saw Huang Zicheng's appearance. The son looked puzzled, and the father quickly covered his son's mouth and hurried away, looking at Huang Zicheng's appearance with contempt. All corrupt officials were killed at the Meridian Gate to be used to peel Hemerocallis. The emperor had their crimes explained to the people one by one, and each of them was a great evil who deserved to be put to death.

But some corrupt and incompetent officials always like to shout these words to the sky before they die.

It seems that by doing so, it would be like a pearl covered in dust and being wronged.

……

On the other side, under the introduction of Jiang Li, Madam Liu Shuzhen had a smooth journey and entered the imperial city.

The reason why Jiang Li was so enthusiastic was actually because Liu Shuzhen came and solved his problem.

As the commander of the Imperial Guard, he was responsible for being the eyes and ears of the emperor and investigating all directions. Ma Ye reported the rebellion in Shuixi, but the Imperial Guard failed to detect it in advance. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Jiang Li about the situation in the southwest and analyzed whether Shuixi might have really rebelled. Jiang Li could not provide much information.

In fact, it was not Jiang Li's fault. After all, the focus of the Jinyi spies' reconnaissance was always in the capital and the nomadic areas in the north. These two places were the main concerns that the court had to stabilize. Even if there were spies in the southwest, most of them were spread to Annan, Siam and other places. The chieftains of Yunnan and Guizhou were mostly isolated, and it was difficult for the Jinyiwei to infiltrate them, so it was indeed difficult to get any accurate information.

But the emperor would not care about these inside stories, he would only think that you and the Jinyiwei were incompetent, so Jiang Li had been very anxious these days, and sent a lot of secret agents to the southwest. But after all, the distance was there, and for a while, he still couldn't get the specific news from the southwest.

But the arrival of the people from Shuidong at this time undoubtedly saved Jiang Li's troubles. Shuidong is adjacent to Shuixi, and the two sides once stationed in Guiyang City together. Shuidong must know the most about the Shuixi rebellion. Your Majesty can learn about the situation in the southwest through Shuidong, and naturally he will be less angry with the Jinyiwei.

"His Highness has ordered that Madam come into the palace to meet him. Madam, please come in." Jiang Li extended his hand to invite.

Liu Shuzhen nodded and strode into the tall and magnificent Jinshen Hall in front of her.

(End of this chapter)