Chapter 274 Rumors Are Spreading

Tang Hao brought a woman home.

Zhang Jingshu was very generous, showing the dignity and majesty of the mistress of the Zhongshan Marquis's mansion.

To be honest, Zhang Jingshu had been mentally prepared for this kind of thing.

In fact, when she entered the palace before her wedding, Queen Xia had warned her not to waste time and energy on men going out to cheat.

After a long marriage, men will feel bored and inevitably go out to look for flowers and willows.

And their men, one is the emperor of the dynasty, and the other is the new noble Zhongshan Marquis, who has power and money. Whether at home or outside, there are many coquettish and slutty women staring at them, wishing to throw themselves into their arms and climb up the high branches, and turn black chickens into phoenixes!

But they are powerless and even helpless about this. Instead, they have to help Tang Hao and Zhu Houzhao to have children as much as possible.

Who made you old and unattractive?

Therefore, the first lesson Zhang Jingshu learned as a wife was to try her best to stabilize her position as the mistress of the house. Whether it was giving birth to a son or cooperating with her husband, she was trying her best.

At least, she couldn't be like a shrew and provoke her husband's dissatisfaction and anger for no reason.

Tang Hao also noticed Zhang Jingshu's grievance, so after settling the Hu Ji, he immediately started to coax his wife.

He sat on the bed with his wife in his arms, and narrated the events of the Ning Wang Mansion in a calm tone.

The bitterness in Zhang Jingshu's heart gradually disappeared, replaced by shock and uneasiness.

"My husband, do you mean that Zhu Chenhao wanted to win you over and then rebel?"

This is rebellion!

It's a capital crime of killing nine clans!

Even Zhang Jingshu couldn't help but feel terrified.

"That's right."

Tang Hao gently stroked the smooth back of the beauty.

"Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao will definitely rebel!"

"Of course, His Majesty also knows about this, so he was appointed as the Minister of Guanglu Temple!"

"To put it bluntly, it is to put this rebel king in the capital, under our noses, to see what kind of storm he can stir up, so that His Majesty and I can clean up the court!"

After hearing these words, Zhang Jingshu finally understood why her husband went to the banquet!

It turned out that all this was planned by him and His Majesty the Emperor!

Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao has entered the game without knowing it!

"At that time, in order to dispel Zhu Chenhao's vigilance, I deliberately showed my greedy and lustful appearance, and took this stunning Hu Ji."

"If you are dissatisfied, Madam, I will send this Hu Ji away tomorrow and give her a stable second half of her life!"

Zhang Jingshu was stunned when she heard this, and stood there quietly.

She seemed to feel that her throat was tightly grasped by a hand, and her heart seemed to be hit hard.

In this era of strict etiquette and male superiority, how lucky is she to meet such a husband who respects and loves her?

For a moment, all the bitterness in her heart turned into sweetness.

Zhang Jingshu hung on Tang Hao like a kitten, and then took the initiative to offer a kiss.

"Husband, love me——"

Hearing this, looking at the beauty in his arms, Tang Hao also knew that he had to comfort his wife, otherwise there would be a fire in the backyard.

The best way to comfort her is naturally to feed her!

A night of fish and dragon dance.

The next morning, Zhongshan Hou walked into the Qianqing Palace with his waist supported.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but joked: "Oh, isn't this our mighty Zhongshan Marquis? How come he's already gone after just one night?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Houzhao took a few steps to Tang Hao and joked: "What? Is that stunning Hu Ji really that powerful? Did you really squeeze her dry?"

Well, Zhu Houzhao knew that Tang Hao went to the banquet to meet Ning Wang, because Tang Hao had no intention of hiding it from His Majesty the Emperor, and even the coachman was disguised as Jinyiwei.

In addition, in this Ning Wang Mansion, I don't know how many servants and maids are the spies and guards of the factory guards!

So the heroic deeds of Zhongshan Marquis in Ning Wang Mansion yesterday soon reached Zhu Houzhao's desk.

Tang Hao rolled his eyes at Zhu Houzhao in anger, and then sat down on the chair.

"Your Majesty, am I sacrificing my looks for the sake of state affairs?"

"Get lost, you're still ungrateful!"

Zhu Houzhao said sourly: "I haven't experienced any exotic customs yet, you damned savage, arrange one for me as soon as possible!"

Well, the little emperor's curiosity started to work again.

"Don't dream."

"If I really arrange one for you, I won't tell you how resentful the Empress will be, and the Empress Dowager will skin me alive!"

Tang Hao had nothing better to do, so he arranged an exotic customs for Zhu Houzhao.

He didn't want to offend the entire harem and then provoke revenge from Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Xia!

"Your Majesty, if you have the time, you should spend more time with the Empress Dowager. I haven't seen her for so long..."

"Shut up!" Zhu Houzhao roared angrily.

The emperor had no offspring, which had always been a hidden pain in Zhu Houzhao's heart.

Although he is still very young, only eighteen years old, he has been married for almost three years and the queen's belly still has no movement, so naturally it has attracted a lot of rumors.

Just recently, Zhu Houzhao accidentally saw Empress Xia crying alone. After asking, he learned that there were some rumors in the harem, such as Empress Xia was infertile, etc., which made His Majesty the Emperor furious and beat to death a dozen gossiping women.

However, the best way to stop the rumors is undoubtedly that Empress Xia is pregnant.

But it doesn't go as planned!

Zhu Houzhao also began to regret that his absurd behavior at the beginning wasted more than a year of time and was hanging out with Feng'er, but now the one who suffered was Empress Xia.

The subjects would not question His Majesty the Emperor, let alone speculate whether there was something wrong with His Majesty the Emperor. They could only focus on Empress Xia. If Empress Xia still couldn't get pregnant after a while, it is estimated that the ministers would advise him to select concubines for him.

So Zhu Houzhao is very annoyed now. When he heard Tang Hao mention this, he was really furious.

Tang Hao also noticed that something was wrong. It was just a joke, so why did he make this guy angry?

However, the harem was a private matter of the royal family, so Zhu Houzhao didn't have the face to say it, and Tang Hao naturally didn't ask.

The atmosphere was suppressed for a while, and the two stared at each other, without saying anything.

In the end, it was Tang Hao who broke the silence and shifted the topic to Zhu Chenhao.

"Perhaps, yesterday's banquet was a good opportunity!"

Tang Hao touched his chin and took the initiative to speak, and Zhu Houzhao also became interested.

"You mean..."

"What Zhu Chenhao did can't be hidden from the eyes of the court officials."

Tang Hao sneered: "In this case, why don't we add fuel to the fire and directly start a war between the royal family and the gentry!"

Zhu Houzhao reacted immediately, but still hesitated.

"But in this way, you will definitely suffer a lot of impeachment and criticism!"

"Haha." Tang Hao chuckled, "Have I suffered less impeachment and criticism?"

This is really a big truth.

Ever since Tang Hao drove Qi Yanming and other rebels to slaughter the gentry, there have been endless memorials impeaching him. The gentry and the gentry have been looking forward to the day when the emperor will be disgusted with this cruel official and hawk, and then directly behead him to appease the public anger!

"Okay, then I will let the factory guards do it!"

The emperor and his ministers finalized some details and officially started the plan.

Soon rumors spread in the capital, saying that the Guanglu Temple Minister and Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao "brought a huge amount of white gold and bribed the court officials", and the first to bear the brunt was Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao.

Even the details of the banquet where Zhongshan Hou went to Ning Wang's mansion and drank and talked happily with Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao were revealed clearly, which instantly caused a huge response!

After all, these rumors sounded too true, even Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao's playing with the singing girl at the Ning Wang's mansion banquet was vividly described, and it was obvious that it was a real thing!

So, the court and the public were immediately angry.

The princes of the royal family colluded with military generals and nobles, and they were military generals and nobles with heavy troops. What do you want to do?

The civil officials and gentry had long been dissatisfied with the emperor's bringing the royal family into the court. At this moment, they undoubtedly seized the opportunity and prepared to bring these princes of the royal family back to the dust in one fell swoop!

In the cabinet, Yang Tinghe summoned the nine ministers.

"I believe you have all heard about the recent rumors in the capital?"

Yang Tinghe looked around, and then said in a deep voice: "Zhu Chenhao, this beast, originally committed crimes and eliminated dissidents in his fiefdom. His behavior is enough to prove that he has long had a rebellious heart."

"Now that he has entered the court, he has "given a huge amount of white gold to bribe the court nobles", and even set his sights on Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao!"

When the name Tang Hao was mentioned, the faces of the ministers present changed.

They knew who Tang Hao was.

Most importantly, this Zhongshan Hou is now in charge of the Beijing Army!

If he really colluded with Zhu Chenhao, the rebel king, the consequences would be... disastrous!

"It is true that we cannot doubt the loyalty of Zhongshan Hou to His Majesty, but we cannot bet on his loyalty either!"

"Once Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao really colluded with Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao, then the capital will really... change!"

Yang Tinghe said in a deep voice.

When the rumor first arose, Yang Tinghe immediately reacted. It was obvious that someone was deliberately setting up a trap to provoke conflicts between the royal princes and the civil officials.

But, even so, Yang Tinghe had to choose to fall into the trap.

There was no other reason, everything was for the Ming Dynasty!

As he said, Yang Tinghe never doubted Tang Hao's loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor, but he did not dare to bet on what Tang Hao wanted to do.

A Ming Dynasty Zhongshan Hou who held the Beijing Army and a royal prince who had long been rebellious, when these two joined forces, the Ming Dynasty would really change completely!

So, no matter what, they would never allow this situation to happen!

Whether it is Tang Haoyou or Zhu Chenhao, all these dangerous elements that threaten the stability of the court must be eliminated!

The ministers exchanged glances and had no objection to this.

Zhu Chenhao, a damned rebel king, is no different from Zhu Zongxuan, who is rebelling at the moment. They are both ambitious traitors!

Not to mention that after entering the capital, this beast deceived the emperor to become the Minister of Guanglu Temple, and used a large amount of gold and silver to bribe court officials to cultivate his party members. He is a typical traitor!

Therefore, Zhu Chenhao should be killed!

As for Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, he also deserves to die!

This hawkish and cruel official should have been cut into pieces long ago!

From the moment when Liao skinned and stuffed Zong Yue, the transport commissioner of Changlu Transport Division, in public in Tianjin Wei, the gentry and scholars wanted to cut him into pieces!

At this moment, the civil officials and scholars united unprecedentedly, and pointed their spearheads at Tang Hao and Zhu Chenhao with the same goal.

Then, under the leadership of Yang Tinghe, the nine ministers went to the Qianqing Palace to request an audience with the emperor.

Unfortunately, they did not even see the emperor, but only an eunuch came out to convey the emperor's reply to the matter.

The Jinyiwei has been fully mobilized to track down the source of these rumors, asking the ministers to be patient.

Then, before the ministers left, they saw Ning Wang Zhu Chenhao, who looked solemn, walking past them openly, and then entered the palace to meet the emperor.

Seeing this scene, the ministers were furious, but they dared not question the emperor, so they could only point their spearheads at the damn Zhu Chenhao!

Yang Tinghe looked at Zhu Chenhao's back with deep eyes, then sighed heavily, and then turned and left.

Wang Ao, the Minister of Personnel, quickly caught up and said: "Prime Minister, what should we do now? Are we just going to let it go?"

"Of course it's impossible to let it go!"

Yang Tinghe shouted coldly: "Zhu Chenhao is now deeply trusted by your majesty. Some rumors are not enough to bring him down. The fact that your majesty did not see us but Zhu Chenhao just now is the best proof!"

"Some rumors are not enough, then we need actual evidence. I will go to see the General Constitution and ask him to send the censor to Nanchang to investigate the evidence of the Ning clan's crimes!"

This is the only way Yang Tinghe can think of to break the deadlock!

Because he had seen that the person who deliberately spread the rumor behind the scenes was most likely Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, or... His Majesty the Emperor!

After Zhu Chenhao entered the hall, he immediately knelt on the ground in fear.

To be honest, when he learned that someone had spread the news of his private meeting with Tang Hao, the Prince of Ning was really panicked.

After all, he was a prince of the royal family, and Tang Hao was a powerful nobleman in charge of the Beijing Army. There was an untouchable red line between the two sides. Once anyone crossed this red line, he would inevitably suffer crazy suppression and retaliation from His Majesty the Emperor.

Zhu Chenhao didn't figure out who had leaked this matter, but the most urgent task was not to find out the damn culprit, but to immediately enter the palace to meet the emperor and stabilize the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao!

Once Zhu Houzhao became wary and suspicious of him, it would be all over!

Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhu Chenhao coldly and scolded him sternly: "Who gave you the courage to privately invite the Marquis of Zhongshan?"

"Don't you know that the vassal kings are not allowed to make friends with court officials? Or do you, Zhu Chenhao, have a rebellious intention in your heart?"

When these words came out, Zhu Chenhao was frightened and almost died, and immediately kowtowed frantically to explain.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

"I am loyal to your Majesty and have no other intentions!"

"The reason why I invited the Marquis of Zhongshan to a banquet was because I bumped into him at the gate of the palace that day, and the Marquis of Zhongshan was a new noble in the court, so I thought of inviting the Marquis of Zhongshan to apologize, so as to better share your worries..."

Zhu Chenhao could only come up with such an excuse. As for whether Zhu Houzhao believed it or not, he really had no confidence.

But this is undoubtedly the most legitimate reason to dispel the anger of His Majesty the Emperor.

"I have lived in the vassal state for a long time. I was panicked when I first came to the capital. I was even more panicked when I learned that I had bumped into the Marquis of Zhongshan, so I... Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Selling misery!

Act pitiful!

This is the strategy proposed by Liu Yangzheng.

After all, Zhu Chenhao is a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, a descendant of the Zhu family, and a blood relative of Zhu Houzhao.

You can't really force him to death because of some unfounded rumors, right?

"In addition, the minister and Zhongshan Hou are innocent, but the person behind the scenes is arbitrarily accusing and framing me. But I have no relatives or enemies in Beijing except Your Majesty. I really can't figure out who deliberately framed me like this..."

This is Liu Yangzheng's second plan.

If it goes as expected, the people who leaked the news and spread the rumors must be those civil officials and gentry.

Since they can "throw dirty water", Zhu Chenhao can naturally throw the dirty water back!

The first step is to play miserable and show loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor.

The second step is to pour the water back, taking advantage of the contradiction between His Majesty the Emperor and the civil officials and gentry, and return the dirty water to the civil officials and gentry!

As expected, Zhu Houzhao's face darkened when he heard this.

"You are right!"

"It looks like it was done by those civil officials!"

"No wonder they collectively requested to see the emperor just now. It turns out that they are taking the opportunity to get rid of you!"

Hearing this, Zhu Chenhao was even more shocked and broke out in a cold sweat.

He had just seen those civil officials. If the emperor had just met these people, he might have really abolished Zhu Chenhao in anger!

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"These villains clearly want to give me and Prince Xing a blow!"

"It is clearly a malicious accusation, and they want to take this opportunity to get rid of us!"

"It is simply unreasonable!" His Majesty was "furious", "You must learn a lesson from this matter, and don't entertain court officials at will. This is a taboo!"

"As for the mastermind behind this, I will naturally send the Jinyiwei to track it down!"

Zhu Chenhao nodded hurriedly to thank him, and then walked out of the Qianqing Palace.

When he arrived outside the palace, he found that he had broken into a cold sweat!

As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. The young emperor is also the emperor, not to mention that the Zhengde Emperor has been ruling the world for three years, far from being comparable to when he first ascended the throne!

Zhu Chenhao sighed, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.

Civil officials and gentry!

The king has remembered this account!

Sooner or later, we will settle with you!

But what he didn't know was that the emperor who was "furious" before was now sitting in his seat with a smile on his face.

"Chen Dayong, pass the oral order to the factory guards."

"Keep an eye on Zhu Chenhao's every move, but remember not to alert the enemy!"

"I want to see how many parasites there are in this court!"