The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Zhou Chu was sleeping in his guest room in the Prince's mansion when he suddenly heard the sounds of fighting outside. He sat up instantly, without even taking off his clothes, picked up the embroidered spring knife next to him, and went to the door of the guest room.

How many assassins are there?

Zhou Chu looked at Shen Lian in the room and said.

"Not many, only eight or nine. After all, this is Southern Zhili. Trying to plant too many assassins under the teacher's nose is nothing short of a pipe dream."

Shen Lian said.

Hearing this, Zhou Chu nodded. As the two were talking, the shouts of battle outside had stopped. Shen Lian and Da Zhu exchanged a glance before opening the door. After checking that there was nothing unusual outside, they nodded to Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu drew his knife and went outside, where he saw seven or eight corpses lying haphazardly in the courtyard.

"These people dare to assassinate the lord with such a small number of men? I think they've lost their minds."

Dazhu said with a disdainful look on his face.

Does it have a tongue?

Zhou Chu looked at the Imperial Guards in the courtyard and asked.

"Sir, seize a prisoner."

The leader of the Imperial Guards waved to a spot not far away, and the guards brought a man dressed in black to Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu looked at the moonlight and realized that it was already past midnight.

Is there only one tongue?

Zhou Chu looked at the Imperial Guards and said with some dissatisfaction.

Upon hearing this, the Imperial Guards were so frightened that they all knelt on one knee before Zhou Chu.

"My lord, I am incompetent."

The leading Imperial Guard dared not make any excuse for himself and said respectfully.

Zhou Chu looked at these people without saying a word. Instead, he took a torch from a member of the Imperial Guard and held it to the face of one of the corpses. He discovered that the corpse had not died from a knife wound, but had obviously committed suicide by poison.

Zhou Chu then looked at the other corpses and found that most of them had been killed by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, while two or three had committed suicide by poison.

Clearly, these people had made thorough preparations before they came.

"Get up. Take this man to the capital and hand him over to Lu Wanshan. Tell him to interrogate him properly and keep a close watch on him on the way. He must not die."

Zhou Chu looked at the man in black being escorted before him. All of the man's teeth had been knocked out. Before that, the poison hidden in his mouth had to be removed. This was the standard procedure of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

"Yes, my lord."

The head of the Imperial Guards said as if he had been granted a pardon.

“Transfer more Imperial Guards from Southern Zhili to follow him secretly and see if we can use this man to catch a big fish.”

Zhou Chu continued.

"Your Excellency is wise!"

"Go down."

Zhou Chu was already used to the flattery of the person in front of him. The Jinyiwei was strictly hierarchical, and the way subordinates fawned over their superiors was nothing short of obsequious. Zhou Chu was used to such scenes.

At this time, Wang Yangming also rushed over upon hearing the news.

"I never expected there would actually be someone so reckless."

Wang Yangming looked at the corpse in the courtyard and said.

Wang Yangming was well aware that there were countless people in the Ming Dynasty who admired Zhou Chu, and countless others who hated this commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and wished he could be eliminated as soon as possible.

Wang Yangming believed he knew Zhou Chu well. Although the commander was young, he was always shrewd and resourceful. Wang Yangming knew very well that even if an assassin wanted to kill Zhou Hengqi, Zhou Hengqi would have made arrangements in advance.

Therefore, Wang Yangming pretended to know nothing and cooperated with Zhou Chu in this performance.

Wang Yangming originally thought that under his rule, there would be no assassins in Southern Zhili who would be so foolish as to attempt to assassinate him at his residence. However, Wang Yangming underestimated the ruthlessness of these people.

"They're probably mostly江湖客 (jianghu ke, meaning people who travel the martial arts world)."

Zhou Chu looked at it and shook his head.

Zhou Chu didn't have high hopes for the person they had captured; if these people could get anything out of them, they wouldn't have been sent in the first place.

Zhou Chu guessed that they didn't know who was behind it all. Since they dared to assassinate the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and had prepared for so many years, they naturally wouldn't act as hastily as Li Xian did back then.

But that's not important. It would be better if we could find out, but it doesn't matter if we can't.

"These江湖客 (jianghu ke) are easily manipulated by those with ulterior motives. They don't even understand the situation in the court, nor do they understand Hengqi."

Wang Yangming couldn't help but sigh.

"That's normal. Let alone江湖客 (jianghu ke, martial arts practitioners), even ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty believe whatever they hear."

Zhou Chu said with a hint of helplessness.

Zhou Chu had long received secret reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guards in various regions. The people of the Ming Dynasty had different opinions about Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The people of Jiangnan naturally thought that Lord Zhou was a good official. In their opinion, there was no better official than Zhou Chu in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Even if the gentry in Jiangnan tried to smear Zhou Chu through public opinion, it was to no avail. They remembered clearly what kind of faces those gentry had when Zhou Chu helped the common people get their land back and implemented the Single Whip Law to reduce taxes.

However, Zhou Chu's good reputation was probably limited to Jiangnan. In other places, especially Shanxi, Zhou Chu was practically a powerful and treacherous minister. Zhou Chu was not too surprised by this.

After all, the actions taken in Shanxi back then were indeed quite significant, and they didn't involve ordinary people. It's normal that the people weren't aware of the truth back then and were misled by public opinion.

Zhou Chu had considered starting a newspaper to promote public opinion, but this idea was ultimately not implemented. In the Ming Dynasty, only the people in the capital had a high literacy rate, reaching as high as 80%. In other places like Shanxi, the literacy rate of the lower classes was very low. Even if a newspaper were started, it would still have to be read to the people by scholars.

Moreover, ordinary people wouldn't spend money to buy newspapers, so public opinion was ultimately controlled by the gentry in various places.

"It's just hard for you."

Wang Yangming was naturally aware of these things, and upon hearing this, he sighed.

“Mr. Yangming, there is no need to sigh. When I embarked on this path, it was destined to be full of thorns. You must have seen through it long ago.”

Zhou Chu smiled.

"It's getting late, Mr. Yangming, you should get some rest."

Zhou Chu looked at the moon and said.

"Then get some rest. You still have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow."

Wang Yangming was not a sentimental person, and upon hearing this, he left the courtyard where Zhou Chu lived.

The next morning, Wang Yangming had more than a dozen carriages prepared for Zhou Chu. These carriages were mainly used to carry congratulatory gifts, including the emperor's gifts, Princess Deqing's gifts, and Qi Liang's gifts. Just these boxes of gifts alone required many carriages to carry.

On the way from Southern Zhili to Huizhou Prefecture, Zhou Chu did not encounter any more assassins, mainly because Wang Yangming, as the governor of Southern Zhili, strengthened the precautions in this regard.

As the governor of Southern Zhili, Wang Yangming could only allow an assassination attempt to occur once in Southern Zhili. If it occurred a second time, he would consider it a dereliction of duty.

The news that Zhou Chu and his entourage were traveling from Southern Zhili to Shexian quickly reached the prefect of Huizhou Prefecture. Upon receiving this news, the prefect of Huizhou Prefecture hurriedly led all the officials of Huizhou Prefecture to Shexian to welcome Zhou Chu.

"This humble official pays his respects to the Duke of Dingguo."

The prefect bowed respectfully upon seeing Zhou Chu.

"No need for formalities. I have come to Shexian County on behalf of His Majesty to attend General Wang's wedding."

Zhou Chu, riding his black horse, looked down at the officials below and spoke.

All the officials present were taken aback upon hearing this.

They never expected that Wang Zhi would be so favored.