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

Chapter 404 The rain stopped

When Zhu Houzhao heard that Chen Ce had been dismissed from office, he came to the warm room angrily that night.

"Father! Why did you dismiss my younger brother from his position?"

"Aren't you kidding me? He didn't want to be an official in the East Palace, but you forced him to do it."

"You are an official and you still boast that you will protect him and won't let anyone impeach him."

Emperor Hongzhi: “…”

His face was red, and he said stubbornly: "If he hadn't been fooling around, how could this happen?"

Zhu Houzhao snorted, "Why are you kidding me? Where are you kidding me?"

Emperor Hongzhi asked Zhu Houzhao, "Did he take you to the outskirts of the city and ask you to pray for the people to stop the heavy rain?"

"And you! I haven't even said anything about you yet. Who told you to make promises to the people without permission? What about the rainstorm stopping in two days? Are you crazy? Can you just say something like that?"

Zhu Houzhao laughed coldly and said, "Father, what you said is right!"

"Then why do you offer sacrifices to heaven every New Year's Day, Winter Solstice, and New Year? And why do you pray for good weather and good harvests in the coming year? And before the busy farming season, you must pray for good grains and food."

"Is the Ming Dynasty really blessed with good weather and good harvests? Is the harvest bountiful every time? No, right? Isn't this just an empty promise?"

Emperor Hongzhi was speechless after being rebuked by Zhu Houzhao, and it seemed that this was really the truth.

Zhu Houzhao said: "These are what my younger brother told me."

Emperor Hongzhi: “…”

This guy clearly had a well-founded case. As long as he came to the palace and confronted Yang Tinghe, he would definitely make all the ministers shut up. But he just didn't want to come and even admitted his crime.

What does this mean? It means that Chen Ce is tired of the officialdom of the Eastern Palace and does not want to waste his energy on struggle.

"It was Yang Tinghe who came to you to complain, right?" Zhu Houzhao questioned Emperor Hongzhi again.

Emperor Hongzhi said: "What Yang Tinghe? He is your teacher, show some respect!"

Zhu Houzhao snorted, "If he really behaves like a teacher, I will certainly respect him."

"But doesn't the emperor think that Yang Tinghe is jealous of my little brother on purpose?"

"I understand. Yang Tinghe must have felt that the younger brother had taken away his credit. He was so angry that he went to complain to you."

"But isn't this for his own good, little brother?"

What's going on here? Emperor Hongzhi was a little confused.

He asked Zhu Houzhao: "What happened?"

Zhu Houzhao said to Emperor Hongzhi: "Yang Tinghe went to inspect the fiefdom this morning, and when he came back, he asked me to exempt the people and farmers near the fiefdom in the suburbs of the city from taxes and allocate funds for disaster relief."

Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a moment and asked Zhu Houzhao: "What next?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "My little brother told me that grace comes from above. If I agree to Yang Tinghe's request, the people will only remember Yang Tinghe instead of being grateful for my kindness."

"So he asked me to reject Yang Tinghe."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded secretly. What Chen Ce taught was correct. Zhu Houzhao could take the initiative to do this matter, but he could not do it because of the request of his ministers, and he certainly could not do it after his ministers came back after their inspection and asked to do it.

Chen Ce's attack on Yang Tinghe was definitely a dimensionality reduction attack. If he really wanted to deal with Yang Tinghe, I'm afraid even three Yang Tinghe would not be Chen Ce's match.

Why would he give Yang Tinghe the opportunity to go to the palace to impeach himself?

Yang Tinghe had no idea how the Ming Dynasty politics worked. Everything was centered around imperial power... He still didn't understand these principles.

But Chen Ce has seen through the essence.

It’s just that Chen Ce doesn’t want to argue with Yang Tinghe, which is in line with Chen Ce’s personality.

Emperor Hongzhi had promised Chen Ce that he could stay in the Eastern Palace with peace of mind and no one would cause him trouble, but now it seems that he, the emperor, has broken his promise.

Emperor Hongzhi suddenly felt a little sorry for Chen Ce.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at Zhu Houzhao deeply and said, "Chen Ce is right. You should learn from him and remember his words. He can't teach you much."

At this point, Emperor Hongzhi suddenly stopped talking. Zhu Houzhao was also stunned.

Emperor Hongzhi didn't say anything. He didn't even feel the passage of time, and he forgot that Chen Ce's life span was actually getting shorter and shorter.

Yes, there is really less and less that my little brother can teach me, and he is running out of time.

Thinking of this, Zhu Houzhao suddenly felt a little upset, and asked Emperor Hongzhi with red eyes: "Then father, why did you dismiss him from his post?!"

"As long as you let him stay in the East Palace and be by my side, he will always be able to teach me something."

Emperor Hongzhi sighed helplessly, thought for a moment, and said, "Father, please think about it carefully."

Yang Tinghe could no longer stay in the Eastern Palace. Emperor Hongzhi gave him many opportunities and hinted to him, both explicitly and implicitly, not to make enemies with Chen Ce and to live in peace with him.

It's no use.

It seemed that Yang Tinghe did not take the emperor's hint seriously at all, which was somewhat ungrateful!
"Don't interfere in these matters, and don't cause trouble for Yang Tinghe."

If Chen Ce leaves in the future, these teachers in the Eastern Palace will be Zhu Houzhao's future support. Emperor Hongzhi can take action against Yang Tinghe and others, but Zhu Houzhao cannot.

……

The heavy rain that has lasted for half a month is still falling.

The Zhang brothers came to Huaihua Hutong early in the morning and brought two trays of steamed buns.

"Chen Ce, Chen Ce, tell me, why were you dismissed from office?"

“How pitiful!”

"Why did you go to deceive the Crown Prince for no reason? Now you've been impeached by Yang Ting and that beast, right?"

"Hey, look, it's still raining heavily. How can it stop?"

"You are not a god, how can you make God listen to you?"

"How about this, you give us five thousand taels of silver, and we will help you find an official, how about that?"

These two guys are truly... talented!

How obsessed with money are they? Now they want to cheat people out of their money?
"You can eat this bun. It's so pitiful."

Chen Ce said "oh", took the bun, and said with a smile: "You two brothers are pretty good friends."

Zhang Heling said, "Of course not. We brothers are actually concerned about you. How is your illness? When will you die?"

Chen Ce: “…”

He almost spit out a mouthful of bun.

Zhang Yanling asked: "If you die, can we inherit Shuntian Express?"

That was the original idea.

Chen Ce said speechlessly: "You are not my sons, how can I let you inherit?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Why not? We can recognize you as our father."

Zhang Heling slapped him and said angrily: "You fart!"

"Ahem, Chen Ce, you've seen how we, as your elder uncles, treat you."

"How about this, you either write a suicide note now, and as long as you die, send it to us by express delivery, and we will let you go to the East Palace to serve as an official again? How about that? The emperor listens to us very much!"

Chen Ce smiled and said, "No need, just resign if you want."

"Oh, the rain has stopped."

Chen Ce pointed outside.

Damn it?

The two brothers turned around and stared blankly at the sky outside. They didn’t know when the rain…actually stopped!!!
(End of this chapter)