Zhou Yanru's expression didn't change much.
Li Ruolian was favored by Zhu Youjian, and as soon as he passed the military examination, he was groomed to be a trusted confidant.
So he never opposed Zhu Youjian and had never suffered at the hands of the young emperor.
But Zhou Yanru was properly dealt with.
He said calmly, "Our Emperor is a young prodigy, and with Master Gao by his side to teach him by example, he is naturally destined to become a wise and benevolent ruler."
After offering a casual compliment, Zhou Yanru returned to the main topic.
"General Li, have you brought all the leaders of the Grand Canal Gang here?"
Li Ruolian was still thinking about what had just happened, and casually nodded, saying, "That's right, I brought them all."
"To my surprise, there was actually a canal gang above the canal workers."
Zhou Yanru smiled and said:
"Hehe, wherever there are people, there will naturally be organizations."
“In the countryside there are so-called gentry, and in various places there are also gentry. Since the canal workers can neither take the imperial examinations nor cultivate the land, there are naturally so-called canal gangs.”
He grew up in Jiangnan, where such things were commonplace, so he didn't find them strange.
"Alright, since General Li brought them all here, I can finally put them to good use!"
Zhou Yanru's smile gradually turned sinister.
“During this period, I deliberately locked up all the arrested gentry in jail and prevented them from knowing anything about the outside world.”
"Especially in the last few days, I have deliberately instructed the soldiers guarding them to act as if they are in a state of panic."
"Hehe, now those gentry probably think that the canal workers have caused a huge mess, and I have no choice but to beg them for help."
"If I were to take all the leaders of the Grand Canal Gang to them now... Hmph, I wonder what kind of expressions they would have!"
Upon hearing this, Li Ruolian's heart stirred, and she subconsciously distanced herself from Zhou Yanru.
He thought to himself, "It seems that this Lord Zhou was tormented by Wei Zhongxian back then, and he has psychological problems."
"Now that they've seized an opportunity, they're going to vent their anger on those gentry."
"Oh well, this has nothing to do with me anyway."
He casually said, "In that case, I'll send the person over to you, Lord Zhou, right away."
As soon as Li Ruolian finished speaking, a childish voice came from behind her:
"Who are you sending it to?"
Zheng Chenggong strode in with his short legs, his face full of smiles.
Seeing that it was Zheng Chenggong returning, the two were not surprised, but simply smiled and asked:
"Little Zheng, didn't you go to see your father?"
Zheng Chenggong nodded his head.
"I did see my father, but can't I come back yet?"
Zhou Yanru shook his head.
"Who said you can't come back! Never mind, I have things to do, you go play with General Li first."
Zheng Chenggong was displeased upon hearing this.
"Who wants to hang out with him! I'm back to talk business!"
He reached out his hand and handed over a letter.
“This was sent by my father. He has already brought his fleet and anchored at the mouth of the Yangtze River.”
“If we need him here, he can come over immediately.”
Actually, there are many meanings contained in these words.
Historically, Zheng Yiguan accepted the imperial pardon very early on, but most of the time he neither obeyed orders nor listened to proclamations.
The imperial court issued several edicts ordering him to go north to Bohai, but he refused to move.
His willingness to bring his troops to the Yangtze River this time is already a huge concession.
It seems that Zheng Chenggong persuaded his father.
If the imperial court were to wage war against Liaodong in the future, Zheng Yiguan's fleet could support Pi Island and then harass the Jurchens' rear in the Liaodong Peninsula.
This greatly increased the chances of the Ming Dynasty winning.
However, Zhou Yanru was unaware of the inside story and didn't take it to heart.
He casually said, "I'm going to jail this time. You're just a kid, so don't come with me!"
To everyone's surprise, Zheng Chenggong became interested after hearing this.
He clapped his hands: "I've never been to a prison before, this is a good opportunity to go and see what's going on!"
Zhou Yanru was about to shake his head when he heard Li Ruolian say, "Lord Zhou, this young Zheng is Master Gao's top student. He's no ordinary child."
"It's not a problem if you take him there."
After listening, Zhou Yanru thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Okay, then I'll take him there."
“However,” he looked down at Zheng Chenggong, “if you catch a disease in prison, don’t blame me later!”
Zheng Chenggong twisted his nose and said, "What illness? Old Zhou, you don't understand science."
"As long as there are no bacteria and viruses, how could I possibly get sick!"
"What kind of bacteria or poison?" Zhou Yanru frowned slightly, not understanding what these words meant.
He casually said, "Just don't regret it."
The two arrived at the prison one after the other.
As soon as I entered, I could hear a great deal of noise inside.
Old Master Wang's voice was exceptionally loud.
"Don't worry, everyone! Judging from the situation these past few days, the canal workers must have caused a huge mess, and the soldiers can't hold on any longer!"
As soon as he finished speaking, people immediately echoed his words.
"That's right. The Grand Canal is the lifeline of our Great Ming Dynasty. If something goes wrong with this lifeline, how can the young emperor in the capital sit still?"
“Well said! We must let the court know that the Ming Dynasty cannot do without the gentry of Jiangnan.”
"We, the gentry, are the pillars of the Ming Dynasty!"
"Good will never prevail over evil!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanru's lips curled into a cold smile.
"Heh, these gentry are quite good at daydreaming."
"Do they still expect the canal workers to get them out of this predicament?"
He was about to walk over and shatter those people's dreams.
But to his surprise, Zheng Chenggong had already reached his limit.
Hearing the gentry's shameless words, his little face was filled with anger.
"Hmph, you dare call yourselves 'right'?"
He jumped to the fence and pointed at the gentry, saying:
"You dare call yourselves pillars of the nation?"
"I'm telling you, you are parasites on the Ming Dynasty!"
The gentry were not angry when they heard a child cursing them in a childish voice.
They turned around and laughed, "Where did this kid come from, spouting nonsense here?"
“We all grew up reading the classics and have achieved official rank, so we are naturally the pillars of the Ming Dynasty.”
"Have you not heard that the Duke Wenlu of the previous dynasty once said that the emperor governs the world together with the scholar-officials?"
"And we are the scholar-officials!"
"You child, I'm afraid you don't even know who Wen Lugong is?"
Zhou Yanru's heart stirred, and he was about to explain this story to Zheng Chenggong.
Zheng Chenggong shook his head dismissively.
"Hehe, isn't that Wen Yanbo? Of course I know him!"
In fact, Zheng Chenggong might not have heard of other stories.
But Wen Yanbo's statement was so outrageous that Gao Qingyun had specifically addressed it when teaching his students before.
That's why I realized it so quickly.
Zheng Chenggong sneered, "Have you ever heard the saying of Emperor Taizong of Tang, 'Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it'?"
"The water of my Great Ming Dynasty has always belonged to the millions of ordinary people. What does it have to do with you scholar-officials!"
"You scholar-officials are nothing but vampires sucking the blood of the common people!"
As soon as he said this, even Zhou Yanru felt that he had gone too far.
He thought to himself, "Fortunately, this is a prison. Apart from these local gentry, all the prisoners are soldiers from Shaanxi and Gansu."
"Otherwise, if outsiders hear about it, it might cause some trouble."
"But... where did Zheng Chenggong learn all this stuff from? Our Great Ming Dynasty has never taught Mencius's teachings."
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