Ouyang Zheng came running over panting.

He hurriedly ran to Ning Que.

"Meet the prince."

"Ouyang County Magistrate? Why are you here?"

"Ahem, Minister Fu simply misunderstood His Majesty's intentions." Ouyang Zheng quickly raised his hand and helped explain, "Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, I believe Minister Fu will not embarrass them any further."

"Alright!" Ning Que finally nodded, looking at Fu Xuan who was kneeling and kowtowing, and coldly raised his hand and said, "Since County Magistrate Ouyang has pleaded for you, then I will spare you this time. Remember your own identity, and don't be too clever for the sake of merit and do things you shouldn't do!"

"I will remember your Majesty's teachings!"

Ning Que turned around at this time.

He looked at the craftsmen who had gathered around him.

"Everyone, don't take it to heart this time."

"Just do the work you're supposed to do."

"If you feel you've been wronged, you can go find the abbot. He'll calculate your wages and give you some compensation."

"Your Highness is joking."

"As long as the prince is here, we are all willing to do it!"

"With the prince's words, we are all relieved."

Ning Que looked at them, smiled and nodded.

Seeing that Ouyang Zheng seemed to be hesitant to speak, he pointed forward.

"Come on, let's go over there and talk."

"good."

Ning Que walked in front.

The two found a secluded pavilion.

Tie Niu and others were scattered around.

"What does the sheriff have to say?"

"Please forgive me, Your Highness, and don't blame me for being blunt. I'd like to ask, is there some conflict between Your Highness and His Majesty?"

"Why do you ask?"

Ouyang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief.

He had also sensed a strange atmosphere in Linzi City since General Manager Hu's visit. The officials, in particular, operated in a completely different way from those he knew. First, they were unfamiliar, and all of them were relatively young. They acted decisively and swiftly, taking over government affairs at breakneck speed.

"Perhaps I am just overthinking it."

"But there are many officials like Fu Xuan."

"Everything is done with His Majesty in mind, and I don't even give the prince face."

"Your Majesty, by doing this, seems anxious to plant troops in Linzi and weaken the prince's influence. At the same time, controlling Linzi will control the lifeline of food and fodder for the eastern expedition to Goguryeo. I don't understand why your relationship with Your Majesty, which is so good, has become like this?"

Ning Que was looking at Ouyang Zheng.

He was in no hurry to tell the truth.

Ouyang Zheng can be considered a veteran minister of two dynasties.

In the court, he is a notorious toilet stone, smelly and hard!

As an imperial censor, he gave frank advice many times.

Emperor Feng had a love-hate relationship with him.

So he was promoted to be the governor of Linzi County.

Firstly, it was because he was capable enough to handle the mess in Linzi at that time; secondly, by transferring him to Linzi, he would not have to make constant remonstrations every day and embarrass the Emperor.

Ouyang Zheng was a man of simple character, a model of integrity as an official. He was never afraid of offending anyone, even when serving the emperor. Even during his two years as the prefect of Linzi County, he was diligent and conscientious.

It would be a good thing if I could be of use to him.

The main reason was that Ouyang Zheng was a bit pedantic and stubborn. Ning Que was worried that he would act impulsively, so he was still hesitating whether to tell him.

"Could it be that the emperor wants to reduce your power?"

"How dare he do such a thing?"

Ouyang Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness is not only his lucky star, but also the lucky star of Dafeng. Over the years, I don't know how much you have done for Dafeng, both openly and covertly. For example, the swift suppression of Tian Zhongxun's rebellion this time was entirely due to your sound command. Now that the Eastern Expedition is imminent, isn't he afraid of losing morale by doing this?!"

"No, I have to write a letter of remonstration now!"

"Ouyang County Magistrate, don't worry."

"I have to be anxious..." Ouyang Zheng seemed extremely anxious and said quickly, "This old minister suspects that there are treacherous people around Your Majesty, interfering in your affairs. I have heard that Your Majesty has been making quite a move recently. He promoted Wang Wu to the position of Minister of Personnel and appointed many vice ministers. Including Fu Xuan, who was just promoted, he is a newly promoted vice minister. The people he has placed in the three counties of Linzi this time are all unfamiliar. They have replaced all the officials temporarily appointed by His Majesty."

"Someone must be whispering nonsense in your majesty's ear!"

"County Governor, His Majesty is not a fool."

"His Majesty?"

Ouyang Zheng was stunned.

Usually Ning Que simply calls him "Royal Brother".

Why use such an unfamiliar name?

"I'm sure you've known His Majesty's abilities for so many years. Some of his ideas may be extreme, but he's not stupid. He won't cast suspicion on me just because of a few words from a treacherous minister. As long as he doesn't want to, no one can force him to do anything."

"What does the prince mean?"

"Is this all Your Majesty's intention?"

"How...how did it turn out like this?"

"Is it wrong to put down a rebellion?"

Ning Que smiled and shook his head again.

"Of course there's nothing wrong with suppressing the rebellion."

"My mistake was that I didn't kill Tian Zhongxun directly."

"It just so happens that Tian Zhongxun knows a lot of secrets."

"He was worried that I would find out from him."

"In order to prevent future troubles, we made arrangements in advance."

"Secret?" Ouyang Zheng looked at him in confusion, then suddenly realized, "Could it be related to the battle in Hulu Valley?"

"Um."

"But wasn't this caused by Tian Zhongxun and Gu Yuan?"

"Ouyang County Magistrate, you are a smart man." Ning Que looked around and looked at Fu Xuan in the distance. "There are some things that I don't need to explain explicitly, but you will definitely understand. In the Battle of Hulu Valley, my father and brother were killed, and 30,000 elite soldiers were buried in Hulu Valley. Tian Zhongxun is far away in the east, and Hulu Valley is in Xiliang, spanning thousands of miles from east to west. Even if he wants to cause trouble, he can only rely on Gu Yuan. To put it bluntly, he is just a pawn. The real people doing the work are behind the scenes."

"Your Highness, do you mean... Your Majesty?" Ouyang Zheng gasped, looking at Ning Que in confusion. "That's not right! There were rumors in Chang'an City back then that the old Prince Ning's achievements were so great that Your Majesty secretly eliminated him. I was still the Imperial Censor at the time, and I considered submitting a letter to impeach him. But Your Highness stopped me, saying there was no reason for Your Majesty to do such a thing."

"What I said doesn't conflict with what's happening now." Ning Que smiled mysteriously. "At that time, they said that my father was too successful and threatened the emperor, so they wanted to eliminate him. In my opinion, Dafeng was in trouble both internally and externally. Besides, the kings of other surnames were eyeing us covetously, so there was no reason to harm my father and brother. In fact, it wasn't because of his achievements that threatened the emperor, but for other reasons. Tian Zhongxun and the Gu family were liquidated because of this secret. He was worried that I would find out, so he made arrangements in Qi in advance. Do you understand now?"

“…”

Ouyang Zheng was silent.

He didn't even know how to start.

If it were someone else, he would definitely not believe it.

But he had to believe what Ning Que said.

At the beginning, Ning Que was very protective of Emperor Feng.

In order to support Emperor Feng, he offended many people.

He even used himself as bait to force Tian Zhongxun to take action.

The two of them have a deep brotherly love, how could Ning Que say anything bad about him?

There is only one explanation...

What Ning Que said is true!