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

Chapter 152

Many people knew that Zhou Chu had stayed in the capital for too long, but no one dared to provoke him.

Everyone knew that, given the political situation at the time, it was already commendable that the emperor had dealt with Zhou Chu. If Zhou Chu wanted to stay in the capital, so be it; he would leave sooner or later anyway.

Those who can become officials have no shortage of patience; once something is a done deal, many people are unwilling to create any further complications.

To be more precise, Zhou Chu, this living devil, is still in the capital. Even the centurions are afraid of him and don't want to completely offend him.

Most officials shared Xia Yan's thoughts: whenever Zhou Chu left the capital for Jiangnan, there would be plenty of opportunities to strike along the way; ambushing by bandits and setting fires along the way were their usual methods.

Tang Bohu and Wen Zhengming had long known that Zhou Chu was leaving the capital for Suzhou, which made them very happy, as Suzhou was their hometown.

Compared to the capital, Tang Bohu preferred to stay in his hometown. The climate in Suzhou was more nourishing, while the capital was too dry. Although Tang Bohu had adapted to it, he didn't particularly like it. Of course, the plum rain season was another matter entirely.

So the two of them went to Suzhou Prefecture before Zhou Chu left the capital.

Before leaving the capital, Zhou Chu went to the princess's residence and asked for the two brothers, Lin Lu and Lin Zhi.

Zhou Chu had promised Lin Zhi that he would find him a good place to go, and the army that was about to be formed would be that place. As for Lin Lu, she had returned to the capital three months ago and had to arrange a marriage at the request of Princess Deqing.

Zhou Chu took the two brothers for two reasons: first, to fulfill his promise to Lin Zhi, and second, to make them a link between himself and the emperor in the army.

If the emperor is often away leading troops alone, he will be completely unaware of what is happening in the army. Over time, coupled with the constant impeachments from civil officials, the emperor will inevitably become suspicious. Distance is the biggest problem between the emperor and his ministers.

Just like Wang Zhi, the head of the Western Depot during the Chenghua era, who shared the same name as the later notorious pirate Wang Zhi and was also the prototype for Yu Huatian in a later movie, but was much more powerful than Yu Huatian.

As the head of the Western Depot, Wang Zhi was deeply trusted by Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen. He became the head of the Western Depot at the age of sixteen, and at eighteen, he quelled the Jurchens in Liaodong, creating the famous Chenghua Purge Court. He almost wiped out the Jurchens in Liaodong. At nineteen, he swept through the Mongol royal court, shining like a brilliant general.

Ultimately, however, he was defeated by the mutual distrust between the emperor and his ministers. Because he was leading troops on the grasslands, far from the central government, and with the constant impeachments and attempts to sow discord among the civil officials, Emperor Chenghua's suspicion of Wang Zhi grew day by day. Finally, after reaching the peak of his life at the age of twenty-two, he was stripped of his military power by Zhu Jianshen and sent to Nanjing to retire in his old age.

Of course, the reason why Emperor Chenghua, Zhu Jianshen, was so suspicious was entirely related to his childhood experiences, which made him feel insecure and therefore he wanted to hold onto everything.

Compared to him, Jiajing valued loyalty and affection much more, but even so, Zhou Chu still had to make some gestures to try to eliminate any possible suspicion between the emperor and his minister.

With the Lin brothers in the army, they could report directly to the emperor on any matter. In this way, the emperor would readily allocate military funds to them. Even if they used war to support their own war effort and used the money they plundered as military funds, it would not arouse too much suspicion from the emperor.

Princess Deqing would naturally not refuse, as the army was always a good place to go. Moreover, Jiajing had already instructed Huang Jin to speak to her beforehand, telling her not to refuse if Zhou Chu asked either of his brothers to go to Suzhou Prefecture.

Lin Zhi and Lin Lu were both very happy. Lin Lu had been in the army for a long time and was used to military life. As the eldest son of the princess, his martial arts skills were among the best of his peers. He had made great contributions in the army before. This time when he returned to the capital, Zhu Houcong directly conferred a title on him as usual.