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

Chapter 203

Yun Jin is now able to help Zhou Chu with some of the burdens, such as the Xuanwu Army. Without Yun Jin, Zhou Chu would really be overwhelmed, which makes Yun Jin very happy.

The Xuanwu Army now has seven or eight ships. Apart from the original treasure ship, the other ships were all captured and are naturally incomparable to the treasure ship. Their advantage is their flexibility, which is perfect for the Xuanwu Army to patrol the mouth of the Mekong River.

In the capital, the emperor and all the civil and military officials learned of what had happened in Suzhou Prefecture. Jiajing was overjoyed to receive Zhou Chu's secret report and to have boatloads of money floating on the road.

Zhou Chu's abilities once again exceeded his expectations. He had only been in Jiangnan for a short time, about half a year at most, and he had already turned the entire Jiangnan region into a mess. Now, he had even handed him a knife, allowing him to take away Cui Wenkui's military power at any time. Once he had the military power, the entire Jiangnan region would be under his control.

These days, the thing Jiajing has been doing the most is constantly receiving money transported from Jiangnan. After the money is unloaded at the dock in Tianjin, it is escorted to the capital in batches by thousands of Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards), and no mistakes are allowed along the way.

Of course, Lu Wanshan and his Jinyiwei also received considerable benefits. After each batch of money arrived in Beijing, Jiajing would symbolically reward the Jinyiwei with some money.

For many days, the carriages carrying money escorted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard never stopped, one after another. Ordinary people were curious about what was in these carriages, but no one dared to ask. The high-ranking officials knew more or less about it, but they all kept it a secret and pretended not to see these carriages entering the capital.

Emperor Jiajing no longer knew how much money he had, but he was very clear that the Ming Dynasty's fiscal expenditures would be sufficient for at least the next thirty or forty years.

Of course, if there is a war, fiscal expenditures will increase significantly, and this timeframe will be greatly reduced.

At this time, Jiajing was more confident than ever before. He had money in his hands, and he could see that he was about to regain control of the military in Jiangnan. He was in complete control of the country, and it was a dream start.

In this way, Jiajing was confident that he could change many of the long-standing problems in the Ming Dynasty. Jiajing couldn't help but recall the promise Zhou Hengqi had made to him, saying that he would surpass Emperor Wen of Han. At that time, Jiajing had not taken it seriously, but now, looking at it again, the goal seemed to be within reach.

However, no matter how happy he was, Jiajing still had to keep up the act. In front of outsiders, Jiajing always appeared to be very angry, and he even smashed some things in the imperial study.

The next day, Jiajing urgently convened a court meeting to discuss the affairs of Jiangnan with his ministers. In the court, the civil and military officials had received the news the day before, and they looked at each other in bewilderment, some knowing the inside story and some not.

Those who knew the inside story were just guessing, since Cui Wenkui and Xia Yan would never tell anyone about this through letters. If the letters were intercepted, things would get really messy.

The person with the biggest headache in the entire court was Yang Yiqing. He originally thought he had brought down Zhou Chu, but he didn't expect that the emperor and Zhou Chu were just going with the flow and causing a huge uproar in Jiangnan. Once the emperor completely rectified Jiangnan, Yang Yiqing would be truly isolated and helpless in the court.

At that time, the emperor will have complete control over both military and political affairs, and will have everything he wants. It will be too difficult for Yang Yiqing to achieve anything further.

Although Yang Yiqing had no connection with the Jiangnan Group, at this moment, no one wanted the Jiangnan Group to completely suppress Zhou Chu more than Yang Yiqing.

With the Jiangnan Group keeping him in check, Yang Yiqing had room to maneuver in the imperial court. Whether someone was an enemy or a friend was never fixed.

Just like when Yang Ting and Xia Yan were dealing with Jiang Bin and Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, Yang Yiqing also took action; at that time, they were cooperating.

Later, during the Great Rites Controversy, the emperor gained the upper hand because of Zhou Chu. Yang Yiqing saw an opportunity and decisively stepped forward to stand on the emperor's side.

Later, Zhou Chu, as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, almost held absolute power and stirred up trouble, which Yang Yiqing did not want to see. So he briefly joined forces with Yang Tinghe.

In the end, after Zhou Chu was demoted, Yang Yiqing completely brought down Yang Tinghe.

It can be described as jumping left and right.

"Gentlemen, look at this! In broad daylight, such a shocking thing has happened within the borders of our Great Ming Dynasty! Is Suzhou Prefecture still part of our Great Ming? Is Jiangnan Province truly lawless?"

Jiajing looked at his ministers, his face full of anger.