Chapter 16: A Great Confucian of the Current Age? True Colors Exposed!

A flash of killing intent crossed Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, and he said with a pointed tone, "The little monkey is right; Hu Weiyong is becoming increasingly brazen."

Jiang Huan, standing to the side, remained expressionless, as if he had not heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words at all.

He was clear about his own position; he was a blade in the Emperor's hands, and a blade does not need to express its own opinions.

Zhu Yuanzhang indeed did not ask for Jiang Huan's opinion, but continued, "Is there any more news about that monkey?"

"According to the news sent back by the men Mao Xiang dispatched, the Nanyang Commandery Prince easily brandished a large pole-blade at the Wei State Duke Mansion that was three or four times taller than himself; it is said that the large pole-blade weighs fifty or sixty catties."

Jiang Huan knew what his master cared about most, so he first reported the conflict between Zhu Gaoxu and Hu Weiyong, and only then revealed the talent for generalship that Zhu Gaoxu had displayed.

As expected, Zhu Yuanzhang did not show much interest this time.

Zhu Gaoxu was still young; even if he were born with divine strength, the Great Ming Dynasty had no use for him to do anything right now.

Besides, Zhu Gaoxu was born into the imperial family, so martial prowess was not the most important thing; he was more interested in Zhu Gaoxu's strategies for governing the country.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang was still surprised that he possessed such divine strength at such a young age.

"The little monkey is becoming more and more interesting. Keep watching him, and report any movement to me immediately."

After speaking, he waved his hand to dismiss Jiang Huan, then walked toward Empress Ma's palace.

He still remembered that in the Simulation, Empress Ma's health did not seem very good; as a couple who had been together since the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang certainly wanted to go see her while he had the time.

……

The next morning, Yan Wangfu.

Zhu Gaoxu was called up early.

After scolding Hu Weiyong yesterday, Zhu Gaoxu had no interest in showing off to his eldest brother anymore, so he rested early after eating dinner.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Zhu Gaoxu walked out of the room lazily.

Xu Miaoyun had been waiting in front of Zhu Gaoxu's room for a long time; as soon as he came out, she hurriedly urged him, "Gaoxu, perk up. Today is your first day entering the Eastern Palace; you must not act as recklessly as before."

"Especially, you must not make Master Lv Ben angry; you must listen to the Master."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded indifferently, then could not help but yawn.

There was no helping it; being young meant needing a lot of sleep.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu like this, Xu Miaoyun could not help but sigh.

Estimating that she knew saying anything more would just be like talking to a brick wall, Xu Miaoyun stopped talking and pulled Zhu Gaoxu along as they walked out.

Zhu Gaoxu's Feudatory Prince Carriage was already prepared at the entrance; Zhu Gaochi had benefited from Zhu Gaoxu and was already sitting on it.

Following an order from Zhu Gaoxu, the group headed toward the Eastern Palace in a grand procession.

On the carriage, Zhu Gaoxu sat with his legs crossed, eating the breakfast Xu Miaoyun had prepared for him, looking completely unconcerned.

Unlike Zhu Gaoxu's devil-may-care attitude, Zhu Gaochi sat upright on the carriage, though his slightly plump body caused a layer of fine sweat to cover his forehead.

Looking at his eldest brother's appearance, Zhu Gaoxu could not help but say, "Brother, why be so nervous? It's just changing to an old man with a bigger reputation to teach us."

Hearing his younger brother actually refer to the famous Lv Ben as an old man, Zhu Gaochi hurriedly waved his hands and said, "Second Brother, you must not be so rude. That Lv Ben is a great Confucian of the current age; we should maintain a heart of reverence."

"A great Confucian of the current age?"

"A heart of reverence?"

"Brother, do you believe that in less than three days I will expose that sour scholar's true colors?"

Hearing this, the sweat on Zhu Gaochi's forehead increased by another layer out of fear; he knew deep down that this younger brother of his was a reckless troublemaker.

Fearing that Zhu Gaoxu would do something reckless and cause big trouble, Zhu Gaochi hurriedly said, "You must not act recklessly; if Mother Consort finds out, she will definitely deal with you."

Hearing Zhu Gaochi boringly bring up their mother to scare him, Zhu Gaoxu nodded uninterestingly, though any fool could see the perfunctoriness in it.

Just as Zhu Gaochi opened his mouth to say something more, Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and changed the subject.

"Brother, are you sitting comfortably? I'm afraid even that brat Zhu Xiongying doesn't have this treatment."

"Although we are both of the imperial family, Zhu Xiongying is the son of the Crown Prince; these external things will come sooner or later, and perhaps even at a higher standard than ours."

"That's not certain; maybe in a dozen years, I'll be the Emperor."

Once these words were out, Zhu Gaochi was so scared he almost jumped off the carriage.

If you want to die, don't drag me into it!

He reached out to cover Zhu Gaoxu's mouth, terrified that more earth-shattering words would come out of it.

Looking at his eldest brother's terrified appearance, Zhu Gaoxu dropped the idea of teasing him and simply stopped talking.

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had finally quieted down, Zhu Gaochi breathed a slight sigh of relief, while secretly swearing in his heart: "In the future, even if I have to crawl to the Eastern Palace, I won't travel with this younger brother of mine again."

Just like that, with Zhu Gaochi trembling with fear the whole way, the group finally arrived at the Eastern Palace.

The Eastern Palace was not as luxurious as Zhu Gaoxu had imagined; although it was still grand, one could see it was very simple.

From this, one could see that Zhu Biao was not an extravagant person.

This caused Zhu Gaoxu to fall into deep thought.

"Perhaps letting Zhu Biao inherit the throne is not a bad idea."