Chapter 124: Hu Weiyong Rebels 4

Squatting down to catch the gunpowder spilling from the bag, Zhu Gaoxu rolled his eyes, then sprinkled the gunpowder in his hand onto the ground and stood up.

He beckoned, signaling a few Embroidered Uniform Guards to come forward and listen.

When the Embroidered Uniform Guards gathered around, Zhu Gaoxu began to give instructions in a low voice.

After a long while, Zhu Gaoxu led the group of Embroidered Uniform Guards out of the Divine Weapon Battalion office.

Before leaving, Zhu Gaoxu specifically instructed the few duty clerks: "None of you are to speak a word about my visit here; if anyone asks, just say I was never here."

The few clerks knew the gravity of the situation; Zhu Gaoxu was their direct superior, so seeing him say this, they all nodded to indicate they understood.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu left with the group of Embroidered Uniform Guards, satisfied.

Meanwhile, in the Xiangguo Mansion, Hu Weiyong was pacing back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back.

He truly did not want to reach this point.

But all of this was forced by Zhu Gaoxu.

Perhaps Zhu Gaoxu himself could not understand that he had a great deal to do with Hu Weiyong's rebellion at this moment.

Because of Zhu Gaoxu, Hu Weiyong's formation of a clique for personal gain had basically been brought out into the open.

Zhu Gaoxu had sensed it before, but with disasters in the North, Lao Zhu still found Hu Weiyong useful and intended to deal with him later.

But Hu Weiyong became increasingly rampant, first sending people to assassinate Zhu Gaoxu, which drew Lao Zhu's intense dissatisfaction, and naturally, his intent to kill grew deeper by the day.

Yet for the sake of the big picture, Lao Zhu chose to endure it.

But endurance is one thing; having no reaction at all was impossible.

He dismissed three or four of Hu Weiyong's cronies in a row, which made Hu Weiyong increasingly dissatisfied, while also knowing that Lao Zhu was warning him.

He had intended to lay low for a while, but Zhu Gaoxu created the Daming Gun.

Having no choice, in order to stabilize his faction, Hu Weiyong could only strike again and contend with Lao Zhu.

But do not forget, Lao Zhu also had a system and had long known Hu Weiyong would pull this move.

He immediately set a trap and established the Seven-Day Agreement.

Although Lao Zhu won in the end, his own minister constantly thinking of usurping power made Lao Zhu very dissatisfied.

But that was not the most critical part.

The final straw that broke the camel's back was Zhu Gaoxu's two thousand warhorses.

Warhorses were something strictly managed in any dynasty in ancient times.

To obtain these two thousand warhorses, Hu Weiyong acted on his own authority and misappropriated warhorses from other armies.

This matter never went through Lao Zhu, but unfortunately, Lao Zhu had been keeping people watching Zhu Gaoxu's Military Camp.

Seeing two thousand warhorses suddenly appear in Zhu Gaoxu's Military Camp was no small matter.

A slight investigation was enough to uncover Hu Weiyong.

As for how Hu Weiyong scraped together the warhorses, that was also clearly investigated.

Lao Zhu truly could not tolerate this.

He immediately found an excuse to dismiss those generals who had transported the warhorses.

Those were all officers of the rank of Thousand-Man Commander and above.

Even Hu Weiyong felt a pang of heartache losing these military officers.

And the key was that it was such a coincidence that they were all the people who gave him the warhorses.

At this moment, Hu Weiyong understood in his heart that this Zhu Yuanzhang was going to move against him.

He knew that any one of the things he had done over the years, if dug up, would be enough for him to die several times over.

If nothing else, in his years of forming cliques for personal gain, he had frequently used his power to promote or demote officials without authorization.

He also reviewed memorials himself, allowing Zhu Yuanzhang to see only what he wanted him to see; besides that, he also executed prisoners without authorization.

He had done every one of these seemingly insane acts.

Hu Weiyong guessed that Lao Zhu must know all of this; otherwise, he would not have suddenly developed the intent to kill him.

Seeing that Lao Zhu could no longer tolerate him, he could only plan ahead.

Running was definitely not an option; since that was the case, he decided to just go all the way and rebel!

Just as Hu Weiyong was pacing back and forth, someone finally returned.

Unfortunately, what they brought back was not good news.

"Prime Minister, it's bad. Those people from the pugilistic world were indeed unreliable. Not only did they fail to kill Zhu Gaoxu, but they let him return to the Military Camp. He immediately sensed something was wrong, ordered all meat removed from the meals, and even assembled troops outside Jingcheng. This matter likely means he is about to enter the city."

Hearing the servant's news, Hu Weiyong's legs went weak.

Seeing this, the servant hurriedly stepped forward two paces to support Hu Weiyong.

Hu Weiyong steadied his mind, then pushed the servant supporting him away and ordered: "Prepare the sedan chair, go to the Divine Weapon Battalion office first, hurry!"

Hearing Hu Weiyong's words, the servant dared not delay and hurriedly went to prepare.

At this moment, Hu Weiyong clenched his fists and sighed to the heavens: "I hope it's not too late!"

After speaking, Hu Weiyong braced himself and walked toward the door.

Without a word along the way, Hu Weiyong arrived outside the Divine Weapon Battalion office in his sedan chair.

After stepping out of the sedan chair, he started to walk inside while speaking.

The two clerks guarding the door certainly could not just let Hu Weiyong in, so they immediately blocked him.

But before the two could even speak, the servant under Hu Weiyong suddenly stepped forward two paces and slapped both of them across the face.

"You blind dogs, how dare you block Prime Minister Hu's path?"