Zhu Houzhao came out of the backyard of the leopard room and her feet were a little unstable.

He wondered: "I haven't drunk much wine, so why do I feel light all over? Could it be that I'm ill?"

Zhu Houzhao didn't know that his life, which was reversing day and night, had begun to slowly corrode and hollow out his body. Although he didn't drink much when watching the beast fighting that night, he drank some adverse reactions with the tiger and wolf medicine presented by Sima Zhenren.

When Zhu Houzhao arrived at the flower hall where Chen Xi was waiting, her health was slightly better. Chen Xi had been waiting inside for a long time.

"Mr. Chen, why are you here this night?"

Zhu Houzhao stepped forward and said with a smile.

He didn't let Chen Xi salute, and he held Chen Xi's shoulders with both hands, not being polite at all.

Chen Xi was a little moved and said solemnly: "I have something important to tell Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao suddenly became nervous and asked, "But there is an emergency military situation on the Nine Borders? I just said that those Tartars cannot calm down. They have been despising the Ming Dynasty all year round. Let's solve it as soon as possible..."

Chen Xi shook his head: "It has nothing to do with the military situation of the Nine Borders. This time the empress came to inform His Majesty that a case is now circulating in the court."

"Ah!? Does it have nothing to do with the Tartars?"

Zhu Houzhao was very disappointed, sat down, yawned, and asked, "What case?"

Chenxi Road: "About the case of Shouning Hou and Jianchang Hou occupying shops and civilian fields, as well as the case of Jianchang Hou rape and looting and privately dispatching soldiers to oppress Liangshan."

Zhu Houzhao raised her head and looked at Chen Xi with an incredible look: "Mr. Chen is here to say this?"

Obviously, Zhu Houzhao did not take the matter of his two uncles committing crimes. In his opinion, bullying others with power was a pediatric department, and he had done it himself... Influenced by the eunuchs around him, Zhu Houzhao's mind was not right, and many things seemed natural to him, and it was no big deal.

Chen Xi smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty thinks this case is a trivial matter?"

"No matter whether it is big or small, I don't plan to take care of it. Let the Ministry of Justice and Shuntian Prefecture intervene... There is no lawsuit for death? In this way, there is no need to make a big deal... Those court officials were so idle that they had nothing to do, and they actually took care of the royal relatives. If the matter really couldn't be suppressed, they would be fined!" Zhu Houzhao said disapprovingly.

Chen Xi sighed helplessly, and he probably expected the result and immediately shook his head: "What if the empress said that the Hou of Shouning and Hou Jianchang did evil and had already inspired the people to change?"

"What?"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Chen Xi with a shocked gaze, as if saying, don't be sensational.

Chen Xi knew what Zhu Houzhao was thinking and said, "Your Majesty doesn't have to think that the empress is pretending to be amazing. I am not Liu Jin, and I will not deceive Your Majesty with false things... I am talking about the facts. Originally, the horse government in Zhili, Shandong and other places were in chaos, and the people complained. Last year, the Yellow River flooded, and many places were flooded. A large area of ​​famine appeared north of the Huai River. The people lived in dire straits. Now some people took advantage of the majesty's shortcomings, and there were royal relatives who unscrupulously bullied the good, occupied the land, and took the banner to openly resist the court. The incident happened in the capital area. Isn't it enough to alert Your Majesty?"

Zhu Houzhao frowned: "Is it so serious? Why haven't I heard a report before?"

Chen Xidao: "I have only received news recently. The Ministry of War submitted a memorial yesterday. It seems that the situation has not yet been transmitted to Your Majesty. Perhaps the cabinet, the Minister of State, feels that this is temporarily suppressed, and then look at the situation. I don't want to disturb Your Majesty. However, judging from the current situation, the civil unrest has not deteriorated yet, but it is no longer possible for the prefectures to calm down on their own. The court needs to allocate people to quell the rebellion!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Chen Xi, swallowed, and asked, "It's not so coincidental, right? I'm determined to fight the Tartars, and the rioters jumped out to cause trouble. Could it be that someone wanted to let my plan to pacify the grassland next year fail?"

"Your Majesty does not have to take things to such a high level. It is not difficult to calm down civil unrest. Your Majesty only needs to dispatch troops to shock and impose a policy of gentleness to solve it... This is the second thing that I have to report to Your Majesty." Chen Xidao.

"There is a third one?" Zhu Houzhao was even more surprised.

Chen Xi nodded: "Weichen just got the news that the civil strife on the grassland has come to an end. Yi Simayin, the national squad who had broken up with Dayan Khan, was defeated and killed in the Wuliangsuhai area south of Yinshan half a month ago. Now the Dayan tribe has basically quelled the rebellion of the left. The next step is that their target will be on the right... Once the Dayan tribe unifies the grassland and His Majesty will personally run the imperial army to hit him head-on, it may be in big trouble."

Zhu Houzhao took a breath and said, "Mr. Chen, why are things more serious than each other? We all got together!"

Chen Xidao: "I can't come to see Your Majesty at any time, and there are some things that are really not worth reporting specifically, so I just got together to report..."

"Local civil unrest requires His Majesty to make a decision early. The Hou of Shouning and the Hou of Jianchang have committed crimes and caused public resentment, and His Majesty also needs to deal with it earlier. As for the internal disputes of Tatars, now the cold winter has arrived, and the tribes on the grassland can only stop. Major wars will only break out after the beginning of spring next year. At that time, we must seize the time to take action, otherwise we will lose the best opportunity..."

Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment and nodded, "It makes sense, this battle will be fought next year."

Chen Xi couldn't help but shake his head and smiled bitterly. He first took out the crimes committed by Zhang's relatives and the civil chaos in the local area to show its urgency and importance, but Zhu Houzhao only cares about war.

"I wonder what decision Your Majesty has?" Chen Xi asked for instructions respectfully.

Zhu Houzhao was very embarrassed and thought for a long time without answering. Finally, she asked, "What do you think Mr. Chen?"

Zhu Houzhao was extremely lazy when dealing with court affairs. To put it bluntly, he just didn't want to manage things. In his opinion, as long as he sat firmly on the dragon throne and controlled the overall situation, the rest should be the help of his ministers to share the worries.

Chenxi Road: "Now the Hou of Shouning and the Hou of Jianchang have caused public anger for occupying the land of the people and robbing and looting. If the court has ignored it, it will soon arouse civil unrest and lead to unstable capital... Things are actually easy to resolve. As long as your Majesty expresses his attitude and announces the world, small punishments and great warnings can ease the conflict. Then pay attention to reducing taxes in disaster-stricken places such as Zhili, Henan and Shandong..."

Chen Xi said for a long time and summed up in one sentence: "Check the relatives of the outside world and calm the people's hearts."

Zhu Houzhao said annoyedly: "No matter how you say that it is my uncle. Is it too harsh to ask me to punish them? At most, it will be a salary fine! I really don't want to listen to the empress dowager's nagging!"

Chen Xi requested: "Then please ask Your Majesty to give the court authority to the court, and the ministers in the court will judge the case to block the world's wide mouths."

"That's how..."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Chen Xi, and his little eyes flashed with glory, "Mr. Chen has time recently? Why not leave this matter to Mr. Chen to deal with it... I believe that with Mr. Chen's ability, he can definitely find a way to compromise, which not only calms public anger, but also allows me to live up to the Queen Mother's instructions!"

Zhu Houzhao simply turned the blame for dealing with the Zhang brothers to Chen Xi.

In his opinion, this tricky thing was too troublesome, and he didn't want to touch any bad things. No matter how his two uncles were trying, as long as they didn't rebel, they didn't plan to do anything.

Chen Xidao: "Your Majesty isn't you afraid that the empress is inappropriate?"

"I don't have to use people. Since I have handed over the power to Mr. Chen, I will let Mr. Shen deal with it. Could it be that Mr. Chen will kill my two uncles? Haha!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled happily and said very easily, but after he thought for a while, he felt that if he let him go, he might have problems. He thought to himself: "Mr. Chen won't really kill my two uncles, right?"

Chen Xi saw Zhu Houzhao's reaction and probably knew that the boy wanted to be a hand-off manager. He immediately said, "Since Your Majesty trusts you, I will take on this case... I wonder if Your Majesty has any arrangements to calm down local civil unrest?"

"I won't make any arrangements, I'll leave it to the teacher for all." Zhu Houzhao said, "Mr. Chen can mobilize his troops and suppress civil unrest. Whether those rioters are arresting or killing, or being polite, it depends on Mr. Chen's mood... I will give Mr. Chen enough authority, even if someone attacks based on this, I will stand on your side."

Zhu Houzhao gave Chen Xi a lot of support in his words, but to put it bluntly, he just wanted to care about anything... If he handled it well, it was your credit. Even if he couldn't handle it well, I, the emperor, would give you a guarantee.

Chen Xi was frightened: "This naughty child clearly regarded me as Liu Jin. When he threw all the affairs of the court to Liu Jin in the past, he was like this now, right?"

"Little twisted, where is the person?"

Zhu Houzhao suddenly shouted.

Originally, Xiao Guozi was ordered to arrange for Zhu Houzhao to eat, drink and have fun in the middle of the night, but he was very clever and knew that Zhu Houzhao might summon him at any time, so he simply entrusted the matter to Qian Ning and others, and he stayed outside and waited for the order.

"I'm here."

Xiao Tiaozi heard this and crawled out from behind the curtain and stood respectfully in front of Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao said: "You heard what I said? I am going to ask Mr. Chen to be responsible for quelling the chaos in the surrounding areas of the capital. Besides, I will hand over the case of Hou Shouning and Hou Jianchang to Mr. Chen for handling... You will return to inform the Hanlin Academy and ask them to draft an order and send it to Mr. Chen."

"Yes, yes!" Xiao Guozi responded hurriedly.

Zhu Houzhao looked at Chen Xi again: "Sir, I will go out to the frontier to fight next year. We must first appease the internal affairs. If you feel it is necessary to kill one person to warn you, I will not stop you, but no matter what, I cannot kill my two uncles, otherwise I will not be able to explain to the Empress Dowager... I will give you so much, and you can handle the rest as appropriate."

Chen Xi didn't think he could kill the Zhang brothers in Zhengde Dynasty, and what the brothers did was not as good as killing them.

Chen Xi bowed respectfully, and then Zhu Houzhao stood up, shook her sleeves, walked out, and said, "Sir, if you have urgent military information, you can tell me at any time, but if things are not that important, you can let Xiao Tiaozi tell me when it is convenient for me, and there is no need to disturb everything... I am also very tired!"

...

...

Chen Xi was very upset when he ate, drank and had fun all day long, but he even said he was tired.

This world is yours, and we worry about you, but you treat state affairs as a joke. If your ancestors had the ability to conquer the country for you, what qualifications would you be the emperor?

Even though Chen Xi felt uncomfortable, he didn't show it. After all, there was a little twister next to him watching.

"Mr. Shen, the villain will turn around and send the imperial edict to you. It's not too early, so it's time for you to go back and rest." Xiao Zhuozi had a complimentary smile on his face.

Chen Xi nodded, and saw that Xiao Tiaozi wanted to say something but stopped, as if he had something to say, so he said, "If it's convenient, let's go out to talk?"

Xiao Tiaozi said, "Sir, it is always inconvenient for this eunuch to meet with the foreign ministers... The villain hopes to help Lord Shen with his heart, but unfortunately he is so slight and unable to do so!"

Chen Xi smiled. He knew that Xiao Tuozi had ambitions, but unfortunately he had little experience and could not come out to take over the power for the time being... During this period, the majesty of all the eunuchs around Zhu Houzhao was suppressed by Xiao Tuozi. Whether in the palace or in the leopard room, whoever can get the emperor's trust is equal to having power.

Chen Xidao: "It should be okay to twist my father-in-law and lead the way forward, so I will send my official out?"

"Since Lord Shen has given the order, the villain should obey it."

Xiao Tiaozi walked in front of him happily, and he also wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Chen Xi. In addition to complaining, he also wanted Chen Xi to win benefits for him more in front of Zhu Houzhao.

The two left the flower hall and said, "The adults are busy with official duties and do not know the recent situation of the Leopard Room. After Qian Qianhu came back, he kept getting women from outside. He didn't know what the origin of these women were. Some women from foreign countries even entered the Leopard Room, which was smoky every day..."

Chen Xi discovered that Xiao Guozi regarded anyone who was admired by Zhu Houzhao as an imaginary enemy.

First there was Liu Jin, then Zhang Yuan, now Qian Ning, Xiao Tuozi has a strong sense of crisis. But no matter what, Xiao Tuozi is not prepared for him for the time being, so he says whatever he wants.

After listening, Chen Xi commented: "What Qian Ning did is indeed unruly, but if he did not force the robbery of a private woman, but just found a woman for His Majesty from the people, it seems that he did not violate the law... There are always some people who want to curry favor with the powerful and take the initiative to send the woman into the leopard room."

Xiao Zhuozi said: "That's what everyone is talking about. Everyone wants to have something to do with the royal family, but where does Your Majesty have time to pay attention to who gave these women? Perhaps it is unknown that they were all deceived by Qian Qianhu... Lord Shen should check this person carefully. If he did not force the robber of a villain, he would not believe it if the villain beat him to death!"

Chen Xi did not comment.

Yunliu once investigated under his order. So far, Qian Ning's way of obtaining women is quite regular, basically one is willing to fight and the other is willing to be beaten.

Xiao Tiaozi continued to walk forward and kept muttering: "...For the two uncles, Lord Shen should be proud of his actions. The Empress Dowager is just these two younger brothers. If there are any problems, do you think the Empress Dowager can give up? The villain is all for Lord Shen..."

Chen Xi remained silent. He heard that Xiao Tuozi had an idea to pass it on to him, and the banner he used was for his own good, but Chen Xi was a little resistant to this kind of stumble behavior in his heart.

When he went out, Xiao Guozi said in a pleading tone: "Mr. Shen, the villain has come from the East Palace to the Leopard Room. He is considered an old acquaintance with you. I really hope to help the adults with more things. You must create opportunities for the villain."

"Eunuch Zhang Yuan is not trustworthy. He is just an unfamiliar ungrateful wolf. It's a waste of time to help him get close to His Majesty!"

...

...

Chen Xi left the leopard room.

On the way back, Chen Xi recalled what Xiao Taozi said.

Chen Xi could feel Xiao Tiaozi's extreme desire for power, and at the same time he also found that Xiao Tiaozi played an increasingly important role around Zhu Houzhao.
To be continued...