Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 391 The prince was here just now, I kneel down to you now

Zhu Houzhao was very angry, but what Chen Ce said was right. What Li Guang did was not a big deal, and he did not kill or burn anyone.

Moreover, Li Guang also knew his limits. He did not capture any Han children. Or it could be said that they were not captured by Li Guang at all. Instead, they were given to him voluntarily by their parents.

"Just let him go like that?" Zhu Houzhao was indignant and gnashed his teeth and said, "I'm going to find my father!"

Chen Ce pulled Zhu Houzhao and said, "The internal factory is still investigating. It will be useless for you to tell the emperor now."

"I'll handle it."

Chen Ce did not let Zhu Houzhao intervene, and on the way out of the palace he began to think about how to take action against Li Guang.

However, on his way out of the palace, he was stopped by Li Guang.

Chen Ce frowned, stared at Li Guang, and asked coldly: "What?"

puff.

Li Guang knelt down before Chen Ce, crying, "Master Chen! This is not my fault. I didn't capture the person. The chieftain and the barbarians came to the capital and sold him to me. I paid the money, although it was not much, but it was a mutual agreement!"

"Woo woo, please forgive me, my lord. The prince was there just now and I was showing off."

"I dare not admit it. If the prince knew, I would be skinned alive!"

Li Guang was not a fool after all. Don't look at how confident he seemed towards Chen Ce just now. He was almost scared to death.

He was not mentally retarded and he knew how important Chen Ce was to the emperor.

Chen Ce had already been thinking about how to deal with Li Guang. He didn't expect this guy to do such a thing. For a moment, Chen Ce seemed a little at a loss.

Li Guang wiped his tears and said tearfully, "The child was sold by the chieftain in Guangxi. I never touched her. She was as slippery as a loach. Today, my eunuch found her and took her back."

"I had no idea that she had such a connection with you, Master Chen. I have just asked someone to release her."

"I can release the other children as well, as long as Master Chen asks. But these children will have nowhere to go if they are released."

……

The Zhang brothers are walking towards the palace. They are here to find Li Guang, the seal holder of the inner palace.

Over the years, the Zhang brothers and the inner palace supervisor Li Guang have colluded to embezzle the imperial farms and divided the profits twice a year. Before the middle of the year, the two brothers came to Li Guang to divide the land.

As a favorite eunuch of Emperor Hongzhi, Li Guang had a good impression among civil officials and nobles. Although he was greedy for money, he did not abuse his power. This was also the reason why civil officials rarely criticized Li Guang.

Throughout the Hongzhi reign, the eunuchs in the inner palace were relatively law-abiding, so it was rare to see hostility between civil officials and eunuchs.

But it is precisely because of this reason that there is an imbalance of power.

The original power structure of the Ming Dynasty was fixed during the Yongle period, forming a situation of three powers opposing each other: imperial power, the Imperial Household Department, and civil officials.

And because the imperial power and the Imperial Household Department are one, the balance tilts slightly towards the imperial power.

But this was not the case during the Hongzhi reign. The Silijian of the Hongzhi reign had very little power, which led to an imbalance of power between Emperor Hongzhi and the civil officials. The balance of power in the Ming Dynasty was slightly biased towards the civil officials.

Originally, Emperor Hongzhi intended to cultivate Li Guang to the throne so that he could follow the path of the second Wang Zhi, but Li Guang was smart. He knew that powerful eunuchs would not have a good ending, so he flatly refused to enter the Imperial Household Department.

Despite this, Emperor Hongzhi still handed over the financial power of the imperial treasury to Li Guang, which shows the trust that Emperor Hongzhi had in Li Guang.

The Zhang brothers also respected Li Guang. On the one hand, Li Guang's importance in the heart of Emperor Hongzhi was second only to Huai'en. On the other hand, they also had to rely on Li Guang to embezzle land.

"Brother, isn't the golden Buddha we prepared for Eunuch Li a little light?"

Zhang Heling said calmly: "What Eunuch Li? Call him Brother Li!"

Zhang Yanling: “…”

"Brother, we are the Marquis after all. Isn't it a bit embarrassing to compliment Eunuch Li like this?"

Zhang Heling said, "Mao!" "Don't talk about us. Didn't the three cabinet elders also flatter Brother Li in the same way?"

"In Peking, apart from the emperor and the prince, who doesn't treat Brother Li as an ancestor and serve him?"

"Hey!"

Zhang Heling sighed and said to Zhang Yanling earnestly, "Second brother, we should be low-key. We should not offend those who should not be offended, and we should not be soft-hearted to those who should be bullied."

"For example, Li Guang is not someone we can afford to offend. If we flatter him, he will say something good about us to the emperor, and we can also get the emperor's land. Why not?"

"What's wrong with being patient? Even if Zhang is asked to kneel down to Li Guang, what's the point? As long as I can get the money, I don't care about my face!"

Zhang Yanling was full of admiration and said to Zhang Heling, "Brother, you are really patient. You can tell at a glance that you are someone who can accomplish great things."

"But brother, isn't there anyone Li Guang is afraid of?"

Zhang Heling said, "Nonsense! Of course it's the emperor, who else could it be?"

"I'm not going to brag, but in Peking, whoever can make Li Guang kneel down, I will call him Dad!"

Zhang Yanling quickly covered Zhang Heling's mouth and said, "Brother, don't talk nonsense. Don't talk nonsense. I have recently discovered that we are both very good at talking. Whatever we say will come true."

Zhang Heling: “…”

Mudd, you are mentally retarded!
He said shamelessly: "Stop talking nonsense! Big brother, I'm putting my words here. Whoever Li Guang kneels down to, I will give you half of my property. I will never break my promise!"

"Ah? Really? Brother, you won't lie, right?"

Zhang Heling said calmly: "No."

……

Bang bang bang.

Li Guang knelt down and kowtowed to Chen Ce, saying to him, "Master Chen, please don't tell the emperor. I beg you, just tell me how to compensate me. As long as you let me go, I will do anything for you."

Chen Ce was also speechless. He had already sharpened the knife, but the other party actually gave him such a big reversal.

Don't hit a smiling person. Chen Ce was silent for a while and asked Li Guang: "Is what you said true?"

Li Guang said hurriedly: "It is absolutely true. Go and investigate. If you find that I have kidnapped and robbed other people's children, you can cut me into pieces... I have also suffered a lot. I know what children mean to their parents. How dare I do that?"

"Even though I'm losing two ounces of flesh, I can't hurt those children... Sir Chen, please forgive me. I was just pretending to be awesome. I was so panicked."

"You also know the temper of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Just now, this old servant contradicted you in the East Palace. If you are angry, hit me. Hit me like this."

clap clap clap!
Li Guang fanned his fat face hard.

……

"Fuck!"

Zhang Yanling stared blankly at the scene not far away. His body trembled. He glanced at Zhang Heling beside him, then turned and ran.

At this time, Zhang Heling was also shocked.

Damn it, I forgot one person. If there is someone as awesome as the emperor who can make Li Guang kneel down, it’s Chen Ce.

"Second brother, where are you going?"

"Hey! Big brother was just joking just now. You don't really want to share Big Brother's property, do you?"

"Second brother? You beast! Come back here!"

(End of this chapter)