Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 336: Show off your power
Xiao Huasheng will never forget the Cangzhou Palace. He held the eldest prince hostage, which allowed Xian Yunhe and others to occupy this place and report the situation in Cangzhou that was originally covered up. And he also witnessed a desperate fight for each other's fate here. If Zhu Tingfang hadn't fallen from the sky, Xian Yunhe might have killed Xu Cheng.
If Xian Yunhe really killed Changlu County Magistrate Xu Cheng, he might feel very happy at the time, but there would be no way to make up for it afterwards. Xian Yunhe, whom he respected and trusted the most, would definitely die, and at least dozens or even hundreds of them who were accomplices in committing such a big crime would also die.
So, when he followed Zhang Shou and the others into the palace, he saw that no one questioned this follower-like boy, and no one dared to search him. Although his desire to see Xian Yunhe was burning like a hot coal, his mood was unconsciously a little complicated.
If they hadn't been lucky this time, it would have been Zhu Tingfang who came down from the capital to calm the situation first. Uncle Yunhe was shot in the hand but was not beheaded immediately to serve as a warning to others. If Zhang Shou hadn't listened to him patiently, and Zhu Ying had asked Uncle to find witnesses and evidence, perhaps those rich and unkind families would have continued to live at large.
But what if he hadn't met such a noble person? Not to mention that he didn't have to be interrogated and searched in the palace, he would have died! Why do people in this world have to be divided into different classes? Why did Uncle Yunhe almost end up in a desperate situation?
Just as Xiao Huasheng was getting more and more angry, and the more angry he became, the slower his pace became, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked again and saw that it was Lao Xianyu. The old man smiled at him and then said meaningfully: "Think about things from a positive perspective and don't dwell on trivial matters. Yunhe would be very happy if he knew that you are doing well."
Peanut's eyes suddenly turned red, and he whispered, "But I should have been locked up with him and the others..."
"Don't be silly! Emperor Taizu once said that a strong youth means a strong country, so we should put our hopes on our children. It doesn't matter if Yunhe and his friends die or go to jail at their old age, but we must let children like you survive."
Old Salted Fish habitually burst out his quotes from Emperor Taizu, and when he found that Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying in front of him did not turn around, Ah Liu seemed to be talking to Zhu Er and did not notice him. As for the other guards, he thought to himself that they could not have such rich associative ability, so he felt relieved. For some reason, he always felt that he had mentioned Emperor Taizu more and more recently.
So, he simply hooked his arm around Peanut's shoulders and said in a serious tone, "Dr. Zhang clearly knew about it but didn't want to make it public, and he still took good care of you. Just remember his kindness in your heart... By the way, will the eldest prince recognize you later?"
"He can recognize me... I don't think so!" Xiao Huasheng was embarrassed, and then whispered, "I don't know where Uncle Yunhe learned this skill from, but he smeared so much powder and other things on my face that I could hardly recognize myself when I looked in the mirror, let alone the eldest prince!" When he saw the girl in the mirror, he was so scared...
"That's good, that's good." Old Salty Fish was extremely satisfied with Peanut's answer, and patted his shoulder considerately again, "You know, the eldest lady came to see the eldest prince today, obviously to show off her power. We follow her, listen more, watch more, and talk less, just watch." Seeing the eldest prince being choked to death, wouldn't it be a way to vent his anger?
Although he didn't look back, Zhang Shou didn't miss a word of the conversation between Old Salted Fish and Little Peanut. When he heard Old Salted Fish say that Zhu Ying was here to show off, he couldn't help but glance at the young lady next to him.
"You and I plan to go and see the eldest prince show off his power first?"
"Yeah, saying I don't want to see his face is just an excuse!" Zhu Ying frowned gloomily, then said helplessly, "But I can't say that I'm here to borrow the small kitchen in the palace. In this case, I have to go see that unlucky guy first! After seeing how miserable he is, I can have an extra bowl of rice when I eat later!"
You are using the eldest prince's pain as a pretext for your meal. Am I understanding correctly?
Zhang Shou laughed in silence, but he didn't object to Zhu Ying's suggestion. Since they came in with the excuse of visiting the eldest prince and interrogating the prisoner, they naturally had to go to the eldest prince's residence first.
It was his first time to come to the Cangzhou Palace, and so was Zhu Ying. On the contrary, Zhu Er had been dragged in by Lao Xianyu in the name of the righteous army, and Xiao Huasheng was quite familiar with the place, so when he entered the gate, he asked where the eldest prince lived. They didn't need anyone to lead the way, and they found the place directly. As soon as they arrived at the gate, Zhu Ying saw that there were only two guards guarding it, and couldn't help but look at them twice.
The two guards had come down from the capital with Du Heng and Zhang Shou. When they were sized up by Zhu Ying, they realized she was a woman in man's clothing, and they immediately felt very uncomfortable. Who else could come with Zhang Shou and chat freely...except Zhang Shou's fiancée, Miss Zhu from the Duke of Zhao's mansion?
As for how the people came... they don’t need to worry about it. Zhu Tingfang, the big brother, is still in Cangzhou!
Zhu Ying also noticed that the two were very nervous when they saw her, so she raised her eyebrows and asked with a smile: "Why, Commander Du only sent you two to guard? How many people are there inside? How many people are serving the eldest prince?"
As members of the Ruiqi Battalion, they knew that Miss Zhu and the first and second princes had always been at odds. At this moment, one of them simply said honestly, "The first prince is alone in there. Commander Du originally assigned four people to take care of his daily life as soon as he arrived, so as to avoid transferring those local people from Cangzhou because of the first prince's inappropriate behavior and what would happen next, but the first prince..."
He paused, but another guard, who was a bit youthful and hot-tempered, and who knew that these people had no friendship with the eldest prince - it was more like they had a grudge against him - immediately took up the conversation.
"The eldest prince used to be surrounded by people, but now he has just escaped from the hands of the rioters, and no one is left with him - no matter whether it is the servants or the guards, they are all charged with the crime of betraying the prince. What else can they do? Commander Du sent three groups of twelve people, and he criticized them all. Later, Commander Du issued an order to only send three meals!"
"Haha, these two brothers are exactly the same. They only know how to be humble when they are in dire straits, but they only know how to show off their power at other times!"
Zhu Ying chuckled, and then asked with interest: "What if he thinks that Commander Du is deliberately treating him harshly, so he deliberately refuses to eat?"
The guard didn't have much respect for Du Heng, the commander of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion. When he heard Zhu Ying's question, he had no intention of hiding anything. He smiled and said, "The eldest prince did not want to eat at first, but Commander Du said that if it didn't suit his taste... he could eat it if he wanted! I heard that Commander Du wrote down the menus for the three meals a day and reported everything to the emperor."
Zhang Shou smiled immediately. Du Heng was a man with a bad temper. The eldest prince had already caused a stir among the innocent people, and he still thought he was the arrogant future crown prince... or even the future emperor? Who would fall for that!
Although Zhu Ying didn't have a great impression of Du Heng, she couldn't help laughing when she heard someone treating the eldest prince in this way. "Commander Du's trick is good, but it's a pity that no one around the eldest prince dares to learn it. They are all lackeys who only know how to show loyalty. If there were more strong and powerful people around, he might be able to have some self-awareness... Ah Shou, let's go in!"
Zhang Shou saw that Zhu Ying was calling him but walking very fast excitedly. He knew that she was out to see the eldest prince making a fool of himself, so he followed her calmly.
As for Zhu Er, he even let Lao Xianyu and Xiao Huasheng go in front, while he hid stealthily at the back, determined to keep his mouth shut and not make a sound today.
If the eldest prince knew that he had instigated him to break with Changlu County Magistrate Xu Cheng, and that he had denied that Xian Yunhe and others were the culprits of the riot, he would definitely regard him as a thorn in his side. He was not as stubborn as Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou, who could withstand the pressure, nor was he as fearless as his eldest brother who had made great contributions.
However, Zhu Er, who was walking slower and slower, suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered at first, then realized that there was only one person behind him. He quickly called out in a flattering way: "Sixth Brother...Sixth Master! If you scare someone, you will kill them!"
"Didn't you tell the young master before that if you were born in the Warring States Period, you would definitely be an expert in diplomacy?" Ah Liu made a rare joke. Seeing Zhu Er immediately looked at him with resentment, he dragged the man forward without saying anything. Then, as he walked, he said nonchalantly, "With the young lady and the young master together, the eldest prince has no time to pay attention to others."
That was true, but Zhu Er still felt annoyed at being ignored and looked down upon. However, when he reached the open door of the house, he was wondering why it was so quiet inside when he heard the eldest prince's roar of shock and anger.
"Zhu Ying, no matter how unlucky I am, it's not your turn to come and watch the fun! Get out of here, take your man and get out of here as well. I don't want to see you! "
"Why are you leaving? This is the temporary palace, not your home. You are not even half the owner. The emperor made an exception so you could live here. You are acting like a tyrant and really treat the temporary palace as your own territory?" Zhu Ying was not forgiving at all. She retorted, "If you don't want to see me, just leave. The emperor asked me to tell you to go back to the capital!"
Zhang Shou, who was standing behind Zhu Ying, was watching the fun at leisure, while Old Salted Fish was so excited that he couldn't agree more with Zhu Ying's behavior. When Little Peanut heard Zhu Ying's counterattack against the eldest prince by saying "go back to Beijing", he also felt relieved.
The eldest prince did not expect that Zhu Ying would not only not give him a bit of face, but also use his father to suppress him. With a dark face, he said viciously: "Absurd! Since the emperor sent Zhu Tingfang down, he should have delivered any oral instructions. How dare you forge the imperial edict? This is a serious crime of treason!"
"This time when we came to Cangzhou, my elder brother was the vanguard, A Shou was the center, and as for me, I was the support."
Zhu Ying ignored the eldest prince's threats. She had seen the eldest prince's cowardice from childhood to adulthood. After he replied slowly, she said unhappily, "If you don't believe me, just stay here. I will send someone to deliver a message to the emperor. You volunteered to go to Jiangnan before. If you really went to Jiangnan... Hehe!"
Although Zhu Ying did not explicitly say what would happen if he provoked unrest in the south of the Yangtze River, the eldest prince was still furious.
He suddenly forgot his current situation and rushed forward in a rage. But before he even touched the corner of Zhu Ying's clothes, he was suddenly hit hard in the abdomen. He squatted down in pain and curled up. He felt that the acid in his stomach was about to come out, and there were stars .
Then, he felt a sharp pain in his scalp. When he looked up, he was shocked to find that Zhu Ying was grabbing his hair and forcing him to raise his head. He was so angry that he wanted to kill this vicious and cruel woman, but his hands and feet did not listen to his command at all.
"Want to hit me? Haha, why don't you look at your own behavior? From childhood to adulthood, when have you ever been able to beat me?"
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Er, who was hanging at the end, couldn't help wiping the sweat from his forehead, and added in his heart that after all, he had been trained by his eldest brother for a while, and now he had been trained by Ah Liu for a while as well, but even so, he couldn't possibly beat Zhu Ying, not to mention that he only knew how to learn political tactics all day long, trying to seize the throne of the eldest prince of the Eastern Palace through accumulation and recruitment?
"Yingying, it's ok, the eldest prince just said something wrong." Zhang Shou stepped forward and gently patted Zhu Ying's shoulder, emphasizing the three words "said something wrong". Seeing that the eldest prince immediately stared at him angrily, he said with a smile, "Eldest prince, Cangzhou is not a good place. You must feel uncomfortable staying here alone. In this case, why not follow the emperor's will and return to the capital first?"
"I won't go back!" The eldest prince seemed to be determined and blurted out these four words.
If he goes back like this, he will be like a stray dog and will definitely be laughed at by his damn second brother!
"Oh, the eldest prince hopes to take on responsibilities and at least make some achievements before leaving Cangzhou?"
Zhang Shou knew what the eldest prince was up to without even thinking about it. Seeing the man's eyes flickering and not daring to look him in the face, he said calmly, "Just last night, Cangzhou's famous scholar Xu Weng brought a group of people to sue those wealthy families who had been in cahoots with you. Their days of rampant lawlessness in Cangzhou are over. If you want to say that you were deceived and that you failed to supervise, that's fine."
Before the eldest prince showed any joy, he smiled and said, "But do you think others will believe it? It's like you angrily scolded Xu Cheng and those wealthy families for deceiving you in front of others, and you kept saying that Xian Yunhe and others were righteous people. But when General Zhu arrived, I heard that you immediately shouted that you were threatened and asked him to make a decision for you? Your deeds of going back on your word have long been spread all over Cangzhou City!"
At this point, he saw that the eldest prince's face suddenly turned pale, so he said word by word: "You can't do anything if you stay in Cangzhou, so it's better to return to the capital as soon as possible. At least, there are many officials in the capital who support you and will help you clear your name. What do you think?"
