Yuyuan.

This was originally the property of Duke of Wei, but now it has been temporarily conscripted as Zhu Houzhao's residence.

The Forbidden City in Nanjing has been in disrepair for so many years. Apart from a few left-behind eunuchs, they are basically not very popular. Zhu Houzhao is not good at using manpower and financial resources to repair the Forbidden City in Nanjing, so he temporarily got off at this Yuyuan Garden.

At that time, Li Zan, the Minister of War of Nanjing who held the military power in Nanjing, Yu Jing, and Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei, all gathered here.

The governor Wu Wending, who was directly in charge of local affairs in Nanzhili, and the inspector Dai Jin, also rushed to Nanjing to wait for Zhu Houzhao to summon him.

For the officials in Nanjing, Zhu Houzhao's sudden appearance really shocked them.

To be honest, the emperor was far away from the capital for more than ten years, and they were all the officials in Nanjing who lived in Nanjing. Moreover, with the empire's opening in recent years, those who were powerful and powerful in Nanjing naturally made a lot of money, and each of them was considered fat.

The Yuyuan decoration that Zhu Houzhao suddenly collapsed was far better than his Royal West Garden, which made Zhu Houzhao laugh at Duke of Wei, Xu Pengju, who was truly wealthy, and Xu Pengju could only say that this was given by the emperor, and he was afraid that Zhu Houzhao would not be happy to confiscate his house.

"This platinum diamond-inlaid toilet is really unaccustomed to it. There is also this silver-plated agate grate, jade white jade bowl, Duke Wei, you have to thank the Ming Dynasty for being a strong country and rich people now. Otherwise, your foolish garden with gold and jade would become a land full of spider silk webs!"

Zhu Houzhao was waiting for other officials to come to Nanjing one after another, and these days he had only rested in Yuyuan, so he started chatting with Xu Pengju.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know much about Xu Pengju. He only knew that in the 24th year of Jiajing in history, the Nanjing Zhenwuying mutiny, and Xu Pengju, the military commander in charge of the Nanjing Central Army Governor's Office, was a lucky person. He was called a fool by people at that time. He was considered a timid figure.

Now, Xu Pengju came to Zhu Houzhao in front of him. He was so scared that he was sweating profusely when he heard Zhu Houzhao say this. Although he was in Nanjing, he also knew that the emperor, Zhu Houzhao, is a famous god of killing. Several nobles have already ended up being killed by the whole family. He was really worried that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would be unhappy and would be afraid that he would live a luxurious life and betray himself.

Therefore, Xu Pengju said timidly: "What Your Majesty said is that your Majesty can do this all depends on your Majesty's efforts to govern, which has opened up this rare prosperous era from ancient times to the present! Otherwise, even a noble family would not be able to maintain wealth forever."

"It's good that you can understand, but don't worry, I won't take you a slight loss from the wealth you deserve from the Xu family. However, the court and the people, your Xu family cannot rely on their power to take advantage of their talent and skill. Your father took away the land when he was alive and was trained by me. He was still self-conscious and returned to the land. I don't want you to do the same. You should learn from your ancestors of the Xu family! The King of Zhongshan and Taizu also suffered hardships back then. We descendants who were lying on the merit book of our ancestors cannot ruin the country they have built."

Zhu Houzhao said a few casually, but he didn't know if Xu Pengju could listen, but it was always necessary to say it. Any dynasty will inevitably be left behind by some heroes. When they were fighting the country, they were naturally heroes of the dynasty, but now when they were defending the country, they are often burdened by the empire.

In order to raise these heroes and nobles and their descendants, the court also had to increase a lot of expenses, just like the royal family.

Zhu Houzhao's current identity determines that he cannot eliminate all these vassal kings and nobles like Li Zicheng, not only emotionally, but also based on his own imperial rights and interests. These vassal kings and nobles are his own forces to fight against the civil servant group.

Xu Pengju naturally understood these principles. After hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, he didn't feel anything wrong. Moreover, he felt relieved when he saw the emperor saying that he would not take away any wealth from him. He just thought about how to curry favor with Zhu Houzhao. At first, he wanted Zhu Houzhao to visit one or two women from the Xu family in his foolish garden.

Zhu Houzhao naturally did not want to ask for flowers and willows when he came to the Xu family. He naturally wanted to rectify Jiangnan. It was inevitable that he would have conflicts with powerful local households in Jiangnan. Duke Wei was the most powerful in Jiangnan. If the Duke of Wei could be suppressed, other major households in Jiangnan would not cause any trouble.

This is also the reason why Zhu Houzhao wanted to stay in the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

However, through the contact with Duke Xu Pengju of Wei in the past few days, Zhu Houzhao found that Xu Pengju was not a brave man who could do it, and he felt relieved. However, he could also see that Xu Pengju was not a person who was worried about the country and the people. After enjoying wealth for a long time, he ignored the power of the common people.

Zhu Houzhao hoped that Duke Wei, Xu Pengju, could have this awareness at his own guidance and realize that the easing of class contradictions would be of long-term benefit to his Xu family.

Before Wang Shouren arrived in Nanjing, Zhu Houzhao was also unable to show his true purpose directly, so he took this opportunity to inspect the military and political affairs of the entire Nanjing.

Unlike Beijing, Nanjing is still the system before the Zhengde Dynasty, and there is still a Jingying. Moreover, the Jingying in Nanjing can only be described in one word, that is, it is weak!

As for civil and military officials, most of them are naturally not as good as those in Beijing in their spirits. After all, most of these officials are elderly care. In addition, Nanjing is located in the south of the Yangtze River, a gentle and rich village, and the tranquility of literature and martial arts plays with people is a brilliant trend.

When Zhu Houzhao was about to ride a horse to inspect the Nanjing army, many of the officials in Nanjing could no longer ride on their horses and had to walk and follow. After walking, there was no one mile. Not to mention civil officials, some military generals were panting.

Xu Pengju is like this now. He felt that his heart was about to jump out, and his feet were like a fill of lead, but the emperor was still energetic. As the garrison in Nanjing and commanded the Beijing camp, he could not fall behind, so he could only continue to grit his teeth and follow. For a moment, he fell to the ground and fainted.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao was so busy that people woke Xu Pengju up and couldn't help but say, "Duke of Wei, Xu Pengju, you are also a garrison in Nanjing, and you are also the descendant of the King of Zhongshan. But do you see, you are still like a general now? You can't ride a horse. Now you walk a road and you fainted before five miles. How can you lead your troops to fight against the enemy in the future with your physical strength?"

"I am guilty!"

Xu Pengju said breathlessly.

Zhu Houzhao has no intention of dismissing Xu Pengju now, and he can't find someone who is suitable for this position for a while, so he just snorted and threw the whip: "Liu Shi, Jinyiwei, you drive to the Duke of Wei to the schoolyard! The rest of the people will come with me first!"

Zhu Houzhao then went to the school ground first.

Here, before Duke Wei had time to be sent to a carriage he had found by the Jinyiwei Liu Shi, Xu Pengju had no time to thank Zhu Houzhao, the Southern Zhili Inspector Dai Jin shouted out inappropriately because he had just entered the officialdom:

"Wait! The emperor still controls the horse. As a minister, how could the Duke of Wei drive away? Your Majesty's kindness is really contrary to the way of the monarch and the ministers! If the Duke of Wei dares to leave by car, I will impeach Duke of Wei for usurpation!"

Xu Pengju had no choice but to get out of the car and continued to grit his teeth and walk forward.

And at this time.

The Beijing army on the Nanjing school grounds had indeed been assembled. Because they were afraid that Zhu Houzhao would be too disappointed, the Minister of War Li Zan and Xu Pengju had already found farmers around overnight to serve as Beijing army, but it was difficult to get enough of the new cotton armor and the new firearm. After all, Zhu Houzhao came to Nanjing too suddenly, so the Beijing army in Nanjing looked similar to a group of thieves, and the morale of the army was very disintegrated.

When Zhu Houzhao rode his horse with a team of Jinyiwei behind him, the Beijing soldiers were so scared that they knelt down in a hurry, which was no different from a group of people who met the officials.

"Fortunately, King Ning never fought against Anqing Mansion back then!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but say something, and then asked: "Where is Li Zan, Minister of War in Nanjing?"

"Report to Your Majesty, Li Butang, like Duke of Wei, is not strong enough and does not keep up for a while," said Wu Wending, the governor of Nanzhili, who was following Zhu Houzhao.

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao was speechless and said with a smile:

"No one in charge of the army can ride horses, and it is not possible to cross-country. It is really a big deal. I have passed the imperial edict. From now on, all officials in Nanjing must run and learn horse riding in the morning. It lasts for three months. Wu Wendang, you will teach you. The officials of the Ming Dynasty, whether civil or military, have the responsibility of defending the territory and governing. They cannot even fail their basic physical fitness! Have you forgotten the six arts of gentlemen? "

After Zhu Houzhao said that, Wu Wending accepted the order.

About half an hour later, when the sun was already high in the sky, Xu Pengju and other officials rushed over.

They usually can only walk around in a sedan chair, but now they are so tired of walking that they can only sue them when they see Zhu Houzhao.

"Okay, I'll apologize to the soldiers, especially Duke of Wei and Li Zan, Minister of War in Nanjing! If this is during the war, you will be the one who misses the military opportunity!"

After Zhu Houzhao said that, Xu Pengju and Li Zan were both very shocked. They were usually too lazy to even look at these Beijing soldiers. If His Majesty the Emperor had not inspected, they had to come with them, so there would be no reason to apologize to these soldiers, so they would not be able to accept it.

"Why, do you really think that you are the superior and care about your own face?" Zhu Houzhao asked coldly.

"I dare not!"

Xu Pengju and Li Zan replied, and then had to hurriedly apologize to the Beijing troops.

The officers and soldiers of Nanjing were also confused, but they were exhausted because they had been standing there and were unable to bear the time to apologize to them when they saw the two high-ranking officials, and they did not complain a lot, and they also had some favors to the emperor who was standing on the horse.

After Xu Pengju and Li Zan apologized, Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Zan: "You can start!"

Li Zan, the Minister of War of Nanjing, nodded and began to preside over the leadership, while Xu Pengju was responsible for leading these Beijing troops to complete the corresponding military drill process.

But the entire drill process was a mess. The commander Xu Peng did not move his sword, and the officers and soldiers were inactive. Not to mention Zhu Houzhao, even the Jinyiwei who accompanied him couldn't help laughing out loud, and Li Zan, the Minister of War in Nanjing, wanted to find a mouse hole to drill.

Zhu Hou was not in the mood to take care of him, but he didn't say anything. This phenomenon of Nanjing's military deflation was not unexpected, and he could not say he was disappointed. He just felt that it was a little more difficult for him to rectify Jiangnan. Nanjing's military deflation meant that it would be difficult to win by force to suppress local forces.

Zhu Houzhao secretly thanked that he had made plans in advance and asked Wang Shouren to bring the guards of two divisions, otherwise he would have relied on the Nanjing army, so he would not be sure what could happen in Jiangnan.

"In the fifteenth year of Zhengde, the cabinet reported that the Nanjing Ministry of War had completed the replacement of weapons as scheduled. Why were there still officers and soldiers in these troops using muskets with fuses?" Zhu Houzhao asked at this time, and Li Zan, who was already sweating on his forehead, had to apologize: "I don't know that I was in charge of the southern army in the 17th year of Zhengde."

"Then why don't you report it?" Zhu Houzhao asked coldly.

"I am not Feng Xianjun, who has no right to impeach others," Li Zan replied.

Zhu Houzhao smiled coldly, said nothing, and rode her horse away: "Go back! The officials left by themselves, so there is no need to follow me!"

Zhu Houzhao returned to Yuyuan. To be honest, Nanjing's military affairs disappointed him. He could even guess what bad policies that could arise in the army such as empty salary, filling his own pockets, and loose management. Nanjing must have.

However, Zhu Houzhao didn't want to ask again. He was tired and he was used to it. He didn't even find it strange that in a peaceful and prosperous era without military threats, it would be difficult for the officials here to have any military crisis, and they were not even motivated to ask for money from the central court, so they could not ask for any enterprising spirit.

But Zhu Houzhao still wanted to know how deep the officials in the Nanjing Empire fell.

Before Wang Shouren brought the Guards to Nanjing, Zhu Houzhao decided to let the officials in Nanjing relax and show their most essential appearance to himself.

On this day, Zhu Houzhao summoned Xu Pengju and Li Zan again.

Xu Pengju and Li Zan were actually a little nervous, and were very nervous, afraid of being punished by Zhu Houzhao. Now that he was summoned again by Zhu Houzhao, he was even more frightened and trembling.

Zhu Houzhao saw this and said, "You don't have to be afraid. I know that you all have your own difficulties. The money from the Ministry of War is allocated to your young people. The officers and soldiers of the garrison are useless. Even if they use good firearms, it will be useless. I came to Nanjing, but I didn't want to deal with you. I just came to see it. Now I have seen it. At least you have not let any trouble in Nanjing, and it is not a big deal. I came to summon you today, just to ask, what fun places are there in Nanjing and delicious dishes. Since I have come to Jiangnan, I have to taste it well!"

Xu Pengju and Li Zan were quite shocked for a moment. They didn't expect that His Majesty would suddenly be so easy to talk to, and they seemed to have to travel around the mountains and rivers. Both of them were much more relaxed. Among them, Xu Pengju replied: "There are many unique scenery in Jinling, and I am willing to recommend it to Your Majesty."

"I can recommend some delicious food to Your Majesty," Li Zan also replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, then stood up and took a maid in Xu's house into her arms, and touched her: "Where is the beauty?"

Xu Pengju's face showed some smile. If Zhu Houzhao asked him about military and political affairs, he could not respond at all. However, he was very confident in the pleasures of wine and sex, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, if you are not satisfied with the people serving in Yuyuan, I will change to a more stunning maid now!"

"No force robbery of a private girl! No opportunity to make money!"

Zhu Houzhao said something and hugged the maid into the inner room. Xu Pengju and Li Zan also retreated. When Xu Pengju and Li Zan retreated, Zhu Houzhao walked out again and ordered Gu Dayong: "Send someone to find them, so that they mistakenly think that I have started to indulge myself now and become a fool."

"The inner minister understands!" Gu Dayong retreated.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and continued to walk into the inner room. Seeing that the maid whom he had just touched and hugged was still lying on the couch, she sat over and said, "What's your name?"

"Go back to Your Majesty, my servant's name is Su Yue," the maid replied.

Zhu Houzhao leaned down and flirted with the black hair on the plain moon's temples: "Why do you still call yourself a slave? The people of the Ming Dynasty are no longer allowed to be slaves!"

"It was the Duke of the State instructed that although there were no slaves in the Ming Dynasty, we were slaves and were toys to serve His Majesty. Usually, they could be neither big nor small in the mansion, but there must be some rules in front of His Majesty." As the maid Su Yue said, she couldn't help but close her eyes. Zhu Houzhao's heavy breath made her a little nervous, and she pinched her pink fists very tightly. She knew what might happen next.

"Don't listen to him Xu Pengju. You are a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. You have to have your own ideas. I ask you, do you want to have sex with me? That is to say, let me take off your clothes and take them off one by one, and then..." Zhu Houzhao said carefully what might happen next, and Su Yue was becoming more and more nervous: "I don't know, I don't know!"

Zhu Houzhao stopped moving and taught a lesson: "I call myself a slave again!"

"Your Majesty, please spare me, I, I, I don't know," Su Yue replied tremblingly.

"Are you afraid of me?" Zhu Houzhao asked with a smile.

Su Yue nodded.

"You are quite honest, then you can answer me honestly, do you want to do what I just said?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

Su Yue was very nervous at this time. She was naturally very curious about men and women, but when the emperor asked this, she felt ashamed and embarrassed to answer.

"Answer, don't be afraid, I won't laugh at you, I can tell you that I really want to do it now," said Zhu Houzhao.

Su Yue bit her lip and nodded: "I, I want to."
To be continued...