Zhang, the steward, understood Zhu Yunwen's meaning.

Because he had also heard the news that Zhao Mian, the Minister of Revenue, had today applied to the Emperor in court for 200,000 taels of silver to build a palace for Zhu Yunwen.

But in reality, Zhang, the person in charge, received less than 200,000 yuan.

Manager Zhang was also very dissatisfied with this matter.

Therefore, he naturally strongly supported Zhu Yunwen's plan to use this matter to target the Minister of Revenue.

If he doesn't cooperate with Zhu Yunwen in appointing the Minister of Revenue, then he will be in a very difficult position.

After all, the construction of the Prince's Mansion was entrusted to him, and he was only given a small amount of silver, yet he was expected to do a job worth 200,000 taels of silver.

He clearly cannot do it.

Therefore, he had no choice but to cooperate with Zhu Yunwen.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Revenue was still in the dark, believing that his subordinate, Zhang, would use the small amount of money given to him by the Ministry of Revenue to force the matter to be completed.

After all, a higher-ranking official can have absolute power. Even if Director Zhang didn't have enough money, he could still find other ways to get things done.

For example, hiring some elderly, weak, sick, or disabled people.

Anyway, if something goes wrong, it will be Zhu Yunwen who gets the blame.

However, he was unaware that Zhu Yunwen and Zhang, the steward, had already joined forces to plot against the Minister of Revenue.

If things continue as they are, the Minister of Revenue could be easily killed by Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Yunwen didn't pay too much attention to this matter.

As long as he acts indifferent, the Minister of Revenue will assume that Zhu Yunwen has not discovered the problem.

...

For the next period of time, Zhu Yunwen kept a close eye on the war situation on the Northern Yuan side.

The war in Beiyuan is going well. Feng Sheng, leading Fu Youde, used the troops under Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan in Beiping, to launch a strong and powerful attack on the remaining Northern Yuan forces.

This can almost be described as a thorough purge of the Northern Yuan forces.

The battle report that came back made Zhu Yuanzhang very happy. He even believed that the Northern Yuan would not be able to make any moves for a long time to come.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang could not eliminate all the Northern Yuan forces, the remaining ones were no longer a threat.

It's only a matter of time before the people of Kitahara are educated.

During this period, Zhu Yunwen frequently visited Lan Yu's residence and also occasionally went to visit his two uncles' homes.

His frequent interactions with these military officers and generals naturally attracted the attention of the civil officials.

The civil officials were clearly unwilling to see Zhu Yunwen get too close to the military generals.

So he went to Zhu Yunwen many times and secretly discussed various things with him.

It was simply a matter of how to enable Zhu Yunwen to regain power and win Zhu Yuanzhang's favor.

After all this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had still not made a clear statement regarding the selection of his grandson.

This made everyone extremely nervous.

Zhu Yunwen has adjusted her mindset during this period.

And every time a minister came to see him, he would put on a solemn and confident demeanor.

Regardless of whether he was truly confident, at least the demeanor he projected reassured the civil servants that they could continue to support him.

In the Eastern Palace, Zhu Yunwen was reading in his study.

Lady Lü brought over a bowl of soup and said to Zhu Yunwen:

"Let's take a break."

Zhu Yunwen put down his book, picked up the soup bowl, and said to Lady Lü:

"During this period, I reflected on some of the reasons for my previous failures and did a self-examination."

From this moment forward, I will once again launch my attack on the supreme throne. I am confident that Zhu Yunwen is no match for me.

Upon hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, Lady Lü smiled with satisfaction and said:

"Good, it seems my son is about to truly rise to prominence this time."

Zhu Yunwen smiled confidently and said:

"I will go to the court tomorrow morning. This time, I will make sure that Zhu Yunwen has no chance to turn the tables."

Lady Lü looked at her son with excitement, as if she could already see the future throne beckoning to him.

Meanwhile, in Zhu Yuanzhang's study, he and Zhu Yunwen were sitting opposite each other drinking tea.

"Yunwen, Feng Sheng and Fu Youde have made outstanding contributions this time. What do you think should be done to reward them?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen hesitated for a moment and said:

“Rewards are due, but they have come to such an extent that there is not much left to reward them.”

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath and said:

"Yes, there's not much left to reward them with. These two generals are now showing signs of becoming too powerful and overshadowing their lord. It's said that on their way back after this victory, they made quite a show of force and even disturbed the peace. This makes us uncomfortable. So, what do you think, should they be punished or rewarded?"

Zhu Yunwen had a bad feeling; he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was suspicious of him.

Historically, both Feng Sheng and Fu Youde were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang not long after the death of Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

Clearly, Zhu Yuanzhang still harbored such thoughts at this moment.

In Zhu Yunwen's view, these two capable assistants would be useful to him in the future.

Therefore, he had to find a way to protect these two officials.