The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 168

Although Japanese pirates had plundered the country from time to time in the past, they had never been so audacious. This matter could not be concealed in any way, and soon, memorials were sent to the capital.

"This Zhou Chu is incredibly audacious."

At this time, Cui Wenkui was supervising salt affairs in Yangzhou. Although Southern Zhili and Jiangnan Province were two adjacent administrative units, Liu Jin had directly abolished the governorship of Yingtian when he was alive. Since then, Southern Zhili had existed in name only. In recent years, although Cui Wenkui was the governor of Jiangnan Province, his influence had spread far and wide.

Yangzhou Prefecture was originally under the jurisdiction of Southern Zhili, but Cui Wenkui and the entire Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce wanted a share of the salt business.

Both the imperial court and Emperor Jiajing were extremely dissatisfied with Cui Wenkui's overstepping of authority. Emperor Jiajing was looking for a new governor of Yingtian to take over Southern Zhili. His previous appointment of Wang Yangming as Minister of War in Nanjing was merely a prelude to this step. Once the time was right, Wang Yangming could take over Southern Zhili.

The current chaos in Suzhou Prefecture presents an opportunity for Jiajing and the officials who have long disliked Cui Wenkui to attack and eliminate him.

Cui Wenku naturally understood this principle, so after receiving the news, he was angrier than anyone else. He never expected that Wang Zan and his group would quietly cause him such a huge mess.

Cui Wenkui wasn't too worried about Inoue Saburo falling into Zhou Chu's hands. He knew very well that Zhou Chu's decision not to kill Inoue Saburo was merely a warning to them. Once Inoue Saburo was pushed out, it would be bad for both Zhou Chu and Cui Wenkui.

After all, the Suzhou prefect Wang Zan was not killed by Inoue Saburo, and Zhou Chu is now announcing to the public that Inoue Saburo and his men have escaped.

Thinking of this, Cui Wenkui felt a headache coming on. He hoped that Zhou Chu would announce to the outside world that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had wiped out these Japanese pirates. In this way, Zhou Chu would no longer be able to use these Japanese pirates as an excuse in the future.

But now, Cui Wenkui felt like he had shot himself in the foot. The Japanese pirates had always been a double-edged sword, a fact that Cui Wenkui and the others clearly understood. They just didn't expect that this sword would hurt them so quickly.

As long as Inoue Saburo remains in Zhou Chu's hands, Cui Wenkui will have no choice but to admit that the attack on Suzhou Prefecture was carried out by Japanese pirates. Otherwise, if Zhou Chu were to break off relations and push Inoue Saburo out, confirming their crime of colluding with the Japanese pirates, even if Cui Wenkui is the governor of Jiangnan Province, he would not be able to bear the consequences.

Colluding with Japanese pirates is completely different from other crimes. Once proven, one can be executed on the spot without needing to report it. This applies to everyone.

Moreover, Cui Wenkui could not produce any evidence to prove that the people who besieged Suzhou Prefecture were the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards).

For a moment, Cui Wenkui felt extremely overwhelmed.

On the other side, Zhang Ziyi, upon receiving the news, was so frightened he almost wet himself.

Fortunately, his house was far from the government office and Wang Zan's house, not on the way at all; otherwise, it would have been a piece of cake for Zhou Chu to confiscate his house.

The thought made Zhang Ziyi restless. Zhou Chu hadn't touched him this time, but what about next time? Who knew when Zhou Chu would come back?

Zhang Ziyi was genuinely terrified of Zhou Chu, this living devil. He had originally thought that as long as he stayed at home or at the headquarters of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, Zhou Chu wouldn't dare to act recklessly. But now the facts proved that Zhou Chu was a madman who didn't play by the rules at all.

Zhang Ziyi chickened out and wished he could flee Suzhou immediately, but he knew very well that he couldn't leave at all. As the vice president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce, he was too deeply involved with this interest group. If he wanted to run away, Zhou Chu wouldn't even need to lift a finger; Cui Wenkui would kill him.

For a moment, Zhang Ziyi was in a state of utter confusion, wishing he could immediately borrow troops from Cui Wenkui to defend his home.