As emperor, Zhu Yunying was always diligent in his duties and tried his best to control many things.
Therefore, Zhu Yunying never relaxed his supervision of officials, and many people knew that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was active, as were the agents of the Eastern Depot.
Even though many officials and scholars had their opinions, they had no other choice at this time. After all, Emperor Ying Shi was considered good; the Embroidered Uniform Guard was much more low-key than in the past, not as arrogant, and not as fearsome.
Zhu Yunying took the secret memorial handed to him by Wang Chengen, read it carefully, his brows furrowed, and his face was ashen with displeasure.
There was nothing he could do about being unhappy, even though he was the emperor with great power. However, many things were not necessarily to Zhu Yunying's liking, and many things did indeed exceed his expectations.
He had initially felt that he had accomplished some things during this period, and had somewhat streamlined the administration, which was something to be happy about. But now, some things have happened that are about to disrupt some of Zhu Yunying's plans.
However, such things are quite common, mainly because that's how the emperor's job is. He often encounters all sorts of things, and many things don't go as planned, with plenty of unexpected events.
Seeing Zhu Yunying's expression, Wang Chengen also began to feel uneasy. He wasn't worried about being implicated, after all, His Majesty wouldn't easily lose his temper with him. But precisely because he knew His Majesty so well, he could guess from the emperor's expression that many people were about to suffer, and something big was definitely about to happen.
Zhu Yunying closed the secret memorial and continued reviewing it, as if nothing else had happened.
"Send the Crown Prince to Chunhe Palace today," Zhu Yunying suddenly said. "As long as he goes, you can decide what to do."
This made Wang Chengen even more anxious. Deliberately sending the Crown Prince away was no small matter. Because most of the time, the Hongwu Emperor and the Ying Shi Emperor wouldn't avoid the Crown Prince. The fact that they were doing this now meant something serious was definitely happening.
However, this matter didn't seem to pose a significant problem for Wang Chengen, even though it was somewhat unusual. As long as His Majesty gave the order, Wang Chengen was certain he could handle it well.
Inside the Qianqing Palace, young Zhu, clad in full armor, skillfully wielded a knife, while old Zhu sat beside him watching with a smile.
In reality, the sword techniques Little Zhu practiced were all ordinary battle sword techniques, nothing fancy. This was also due to Old Zhu's guidance; after all, Old Zhu had also fought his way through chaotic times, and he knew efficient methods of killing enemies, which didn't need to be so flashy.
Seeing Wang Chengen arrive, Old Zhu asked with a smile, "What's up? Our eldest grandson finally decided to come over?"
Wang Chengen immediately knelt down and respectfully said, "Your Majesty the Retired Emperor, His Highness the Third Prince has already called for people. His Majesty has ordered this servant to invite His Highness the Crown Prince back to the palace."
Little Zhu sheathed his sword and said happily, "Then we should go back. My brother can finally talk."
Old Zhu glanced at Wang Chengen, who was prostrate on the ground, nodded without making a sound, and then lay down on the chair and pretended to doze off.
Even if Wang Chengen came on Zhu Yunying's orders, in the old Zhu's eyes, Wang Chengen had still deceived the young Zhu. Such a servant needed to be taught a lesson, otherwise she would become ungrateful and easily become arrogant.
As for what Wang Chengen was thinking, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care at all. This was also a characteristic of Zhu Yuanzhang: he could be unreasonably tolerant of those he cared about, but he could also be unreasonably domineering towards those he didn't care about.
There's no such thing as consideration; Old Zhu doesn't care about those things. He only has his own opinions.
Just as Wang Chengen continued to kneel obediently on the ground, Zhu Yunying finally arrived late, "Oh, still kneeling?"
Old Zhu opened his eyes, smiled at Zhu Yunying, and then said to Wang Chengen, "You pretentious dog, what kind of act are you putting on in front of the emperor? What, have we mistreated you, making you put on such a show?"
Wang Chengen immediately kowtowed to the ground, saying in a trembling voice, "This servant dares not."
Zhu Yunying said irritably, "If you don't dare, then get up and serve me! You've been with me for over ten years, and you still haven't improved at all."
Old Zhu glanced at Wang Chengen and asked with some surprise, "This old man has been around you for over ten years?"
Zhu Yunying was somewhat uncertain, mainly because he had been influenced by his father, Zhu Lao. "It must have been more than ten years, I'd guess it's been about fifteen years?"
Wang Chengen immediately replied respectfully, "Your Majesty the Retired Emperor and Your Majesty, this servant has been serving Your Majesty since the sixteenth year of the Hongwu reign, and it has been eighteen years now."
That's quite a few years old, and it's definitely considered quite a long time ago. It can definitely be considered one of the old men in Zhu Yunying's service.
Old Zhu also found this somewhat hard to understand. The reason Shuangquan had been able to stay by his side all these years was because Old Zhu had gradually begun to delegate authority to Shuangquan, who was now simply serving and taking care of him.
Of course, Shuangquan was sent to Zhu Yunying by Zhu Yunying, which may be part of the reason.
However, regardless of the circumstances, the fact that Wang Chengen was able to serve Zhu Yunying for nearly twenty years was not only due to Wang Chengen's competence, but also because Zhu Yunying was relatively lenient. It was impossible for the old Zhu to allow a eunuch to serve him for so long.
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