Capital city.

In the Leopard House next to Taiye Lake.

The Ming Emperor Zhu Houzhao was wrapped in a white fox fur cloak and yawning while flipping through memorials.

He handed over most memorials to the eunuchs in charge of writing or the cabinet to handle directly. The few that were presented to him were all of great importance.

The stove in the house was burning brightly, but he felt sleepy.

If he hadn't been worried about those ministers' incessant nagging and wanted to sneak out of the palace to play as soon as possible, he would have gone to bed long ago.

He ascended the throne and became emperor at a young age, and could be called the luckiest man in the world.

Before the late emperor died, he had cleared all obstacles for him, so the young emperor was able to hold power early on and was rarely constrained.

It was precisely because of this that he could not help but let himself go without anyone to discipline him, and there were also the eunuchs in the palace who were the best at guessing what others were thinking.

Under the flattery of the eunuchs, Zhu Houzhao became unscrupulous, addicted to games, and indulged in pleasure.

He ruined his health at a young age and still has no children.

Even so, he still liked to have fun and often disguised himself and mingled in the market.

He often referred to himself as the great general, and he wished he could put on armor and go into battle himself. Sometimes, when he was annoyed by the advice of his ministers, he would even say, "If you can do it, you can do it," as if the throne under him, which was envied by the whole world, was a burden to him.

Fortunately, he was naturally intelligent and there were many capable ministers in the court, so even though he acted so absurdly, the Ming Dynasty remained standing.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao was flipping through the memorials, holding a red pen and marking them casually.

He picked up a memorial from Jiangxi marked as urgent, and thought to himself that he would go out to play after reviewing it.

When he casually opened it and saw the contents clearly, his expression suddenly changed and his body sat up straight in an instant.

"Prince Ning is dead?" Zhu Houzhao whispered to himself.

He held the memorial in both hands and read it word by word.

Looking at the contents, his expression became uncertain.

The content of the memorial seemed outrageous even to him, a man who was criticized by his ministers as unreliable.

The prefect of Nanchang who sent the memorial said openly and secretly that Prince Ning was plotting a rebellion.

Zhu Houzhao didn't care much about this matter.

Over the years, he had heard more than once that Prince Ning was planning a rebellion, but he had never asked anyone to investigate it thoroughly, and was even happy to see Prince Ning do so.

If Prince Ning really rebelled, wouldn't he be able to lead the army himself?

His greatest wish was to ride a horse and fight on the battlefield like his ancestors Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di.

Even if you lose, you can only blame yourself for not being as skilled as others.

Besides, he didn't think he would fail.

Therefore, he was not concerned about Prince Ning, but was surprised by Tang Bohu mentioned in the memorial.

He had of course heard of the name Tang Bohu.

This person is well-known for his talent and is an excellent painter.

He once proposed to recruit him into the palace as a painter, but was stopped by his ministers, who claimed that it was the late emperor's intention to strip him of his fame.

Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to give up the idea, and soon after, he completely forgot about this matter.

Now, when Zhu Houzhao read in the memorial that Tang Bohu had been favored by an immortal, had regained his youth, and had kicked Prince Ning to death, his first thought was disbelief.

He had received many strange things and had seen many legendary masters, but he had never heard of such a bizarre thing.

"Are these people trying to deceive me, or do they have other intentions?" Zhu Houzhao touched his chin.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, anyone who killed a clan member would be skinned and stuffed with straw or executed by slow slicing, or even have his entire clan exterminated!

Even though the Nanchang prefect was extremely biased in his memorial, he only proposed beheading the deceased.

Zhu Houzhao had other ideas.

He called the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and ordered him to bring Tang Bohu to the emperor.

He planned to personally try this "scholar" who was rumored to have regained his youth and kicked Prince Ning to death.

At this moment, Tang Bohu had just been escorted to the capital.

It would be more accurate to say that he was accompanied rather than escorted.

Prince Ning was notorious in Nanchang City. When people heard that he was killed by him, many people came to see him off. The officers and soldiers who escorted him were the prefect's personal followers, so they treated him with great courtesy and served him good wine and food along the way.

Seeing that they were so tactful, Tang Bohu no longer had any thoughts of showing off in front of others. He chatted with them along the way, feeling quite relaxed.

After arriving in the capital, several officers and soldiers put on torture instruments for him.

Tang Bohu did not resist and decided to give the emperor a surprise.

If the emperor did not interrogate him personally, he planned to wait until he was sentenced to death and then show his prowess in public.

These were taught to him by Yu Huatian and others so that he could quickly gain reputation.

Tang Bohu was sent to the Dali Temple.

The leading officers and soldiers comforted him and mentioned that there were many people in the court who disliked Prince Ning, and these people would definitely protect him so that he would suffer less.

He didn't care and secretly hoped that the minister who interrogated him would be rude so that he would have the opportunity to establish his authority.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he was sent to the Dali Temple and before he entered the cell, a group of Jinyiwei came to take him away.

The leader was the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

When Tang Bohu heard that he was going to be brought before the emperor and interrogated personally, he was quite surprised.

He was still thinking about how to get close to the emperor.

Those Jinyiwei were very tight-lipped and kept silent the whole way.

He felt like he was being dragged around in circles in the capital city, and after going around in twists and turns for a long time, he was finally sent to a palace.

Tang Bohu saw the man sitting at the top, wearing a dragon robe.

The other person was unexpectedly young, but his cynical expression was exactly the same as the emperor he imagined was idle, licentious and immoral.

Guards holding sharp weapons stood in the hall, but Tang Bohu sat cross-legged contentedly.

So what if he is an emperor? He has a destiny to become an immortal!

If the emperor was sensible, he would help him prosper the Ming Dynasty as the imperial teacher.

If the other party is tactless, he doesn't mind changing the emperor of the Ming Dynasty or even the dynasty!

During these days on the road, he would always return to the tavern at night.

Through talking with each guest in the tavern, especially the ideas instilled in him by Zhao Gang and others, his mentality has changed a lot.

He treats the powerful and the wealthy as dirt. This is who he is now!

Seeing that he did not kneel when he saw the emperor, but sat cross-legged on the ground leisurely, the eunuch next to Zhu Houzhao was furious and screamed: "How dare you! Why don't you kneel down!"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hands and laughed, "This is what a warrior who can kill someone with one kick should look like!"

He shouted, "Someone, please take a seat!"

Immediately, a young eunuch brought a chair and placed it next to Tang Bohu.

His performance made Tang Bohu a little confused.

Noticing Zhu Houzhao staring at him with burning eyes, Tang Bohu's anus suddenly tightened and he secretly cried out inwardly, "Oh no!"

I heard that this guy has no offspring so far. Could he be obsessed with men? Zhu Houzhao was really interested in Tang Bohu.

In his impression, Tang Bohu should be a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, but the young man in front of him walked with the gait of a dragon and a tiger, had a handsome appearance, and an extraordinary temperament. He looked a few years younger than himself.

Even if he is not Tang Bohu himself, this kind of courage is not something that ordinary people can possess!

This made him even more curious about the man in front of him who called himself Tang Bohu, and he thought that this might be the great general given to him by God.

Seeing Tang Bohu sit down, Zhu Houzhao stood up and stared at him.

He was about to move forward, but was stopped by the eunuch beside him, who whispered, "Your Majesty."

He understood what the eunuch meant.

It would be very dangerous to get close to this fierce man who was rumored to have kicked Prince Ning to death.

Even though he felt it was okay, based on his understanding of this eunuch, if he went any further the other party might have to kneel down and hug his legs.

He could only stand there, looking at Tang Bohu and saying, "I heard that you kicked Prince Ning to death?"

"Yes!" said Tang Bohu.

With his butt touching the chair, he felt more confident and was ready to see what this tyrant was up to.

"Then you are very strong?" Zhu Houzhao asked again.

Tang Bohu sneered and suddenly exerted force with both hands.

With a bang, the shackles hanging around his neck broke instantly.

He lifted his foot, and the chain on his foot broke.

"Protect the emperor!" the eunuch screamed in fear.

A group of palace guards raised their weapons and were about to surround Tang Bohu.

"Stop!" Zhu Houzhao shouted.

Everyone then stopped and looked at Tang Bohu in surprise and doubt.

They couldn't imagine how strong this guy was to be able to break free from the chains.

I heard that the other party kicked Prince Ning to death, this may be groundless! Zhu Houzhao's eyes sparkled, staring at Tang Bohu and said, "I heard that you have regained your youth, is this true?"

"Of course!" A folding fan appeared out of thin air in Tang Bohu's hand.

He took out his folding fan and waved it casually.

Feeling the cold wind whistling into his neck, he folded the fan again, looking like a lonely master.

"What else can you do?" Zhu Houzhao stared at Tang Bohu with shining eyes.

Tang Bohu smiled slightly: "My paintings are extraordinary!"

"Can you broaden my horizons?" Zhu Houzhao's face was full of anticipation.

"Why not!" Tang Bohu said.

He was happy to show this country bumpkin emperor a thing or two.

Tang Bohu felt quite strange when he saw Zhu Houzhao asking people to prepare writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, and he kicked away the eunuch who was blocking the way and came forward to grind ink for him.

He clearly had second thoughts and even thought about killing him, but why wasn't the emperor worried at all? He tried to put his hand on Zhu Houzhao's shoulder.

The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was so frightened that his body trembled.

The eunuch who was flattered by countless people seemed to be so frightened that his body was wet.

"What advice do you have, sir?" Zhu Houzhao turned his head.

Tang Bohu shook his head and wondered how this guy could be an emperor without any vigilance at all.

Thinking back to the caged tiger he saw outside the hall when he was escorted here, he made a decision.

He lifted the ink and splashed it directly onto the paper, then started to paint with the brush in hand.

In a short while, a vivid tiger appeared on the drawing paper.

Looking at the lifelike appearance of the tiger, Zhu Houzhao praised: "What a good painting!"

Tang Bohu looked at him meaningfully, put his hand on the drawing paper, and said with a smile: "Look again!"

As soon as he thought about it, a roar suddenly came out.

The tiger in the painting jumped out and landed in the center of the hall.

As it roared, Zhu Houzhao became deaf in both ears for a moment.

Looking at the bloody mouth, his head felt even emptier.

Several eunuchs fell to the ground in fear.

The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was shocked and shouted "Protect His Majesty", then pounced on the tiger.

But before his knife could reach the tiger, it pounced on him, its sharp claws tore through his clothes, and it almost bit his neck! Everything happened in a flash, the Jinyiwei commander looked at the tiger head so close, his eyes closed, and said to himself, "My life is over."

However, after a while, he didn't even feel any stinging pain in his neck, but instead he felt a sense of relief.

When he cautiously opened his eyes, he found that the tiger was lying obediently beside Tang Bohu, rubbing his palms with its huge head.

After the initial shock, Zhu Houzhao came to his senses.

He looked at the tiger beside Tang Bohu with surprise, fear and joy, then glanced at the empty drawing paper and swallowed hard.

After a long while, he finally opened his mouth and said, "Can I touch it?"

Tang Bohu glanced at him, then looked at the entire hall.

The eunuchs and guards were quite frightened, but the emperor looked eager to try, so he didn't know what to say.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Zhu Houzhao boldly put his hand on the tiger's head.

When he found that the tiger did not resist, he couldn't help but smile.

"That's good. The tigers I raised never let me get close to them..." He shared his experience in raising tigers with Tang Bohu.

Listening to his chattering, Tang Bohu was stunned and speechless.

"I killed King Ning!" he reminded.

"He's just Prince Ning, just kill him." Zhu Houzhao didn't care.

He then asked: "Did it come out of the painting? Could it be that..."

"Shouldn't killing a clan member be a crime?" Tang Bohu interrupted.

Zhu Houzhao said: "Prince Ning was planning a rebellion, and you helped to suppress the rebellion, so you should be rewarded!"

"Do you have evidence of his rebellion?" Tang Bohu asked.

Zhu Houzhao was helpless: "Can we not talk about these boring topics?"

He suddenly became interested and asked, "Sir, what reward do you want? How about I make you a general?"

Tang Bohu sneered: "No wonder everyone says you are a tyrant!"

Zhu Houzhao said nonchalantly: "I don't want to be the emperor. Sir, are you interested in being the emperor? Do you want me to give it to you and you can be the emperor for fun?"

"You!" Tang Bohu was stunned.

He looked carefully at Zhu Houzhao's expression and found that the other party did not seem to be joking. The only words left in his mind were "tyrant".

"Don't you feel sorry for your Zhu family's ancestors by giving the throne to someone else?" He thought of Zhu Youjian and Zhu Yuanzhang in the tavern.

Especially Zhu Youjian, this guy seems to be very obsessed with the throne of the Zhu family.

After hearing that he might be harmful to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he felt resentful every time he looked at himself.

"When you become emperor, please make me a general and let me lead the troops to fight," Zhu Houzhao said with a blazing gaze, "Then I can conquer the battlefield, expand the territory, and bring glory to my ancestors!"

Tang Bohu opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

He simply waved his hand and included the manifested tiger into the painting.

Zhu Houzhao felt his hands empty, and when he saw the tiger return to the painting, his face was filled with regret.

"I don't want to be an emperor," Tang Bohu said in a deep voice, "but I want you to listen to me. I will make the people of the Ming Dynasty well-fed and well-clothed, and everyone will be like a dragon!"

"Okay!" After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, he suddenly fell to his knees and said loudly, "Please accept me as your disciple!"

…

(End of this chapter)