Chapter 358: Be a little kinder to those around you

Zhang Jie changed his clothes and walked away quickly. The disheveled look he wore made the palace maids and eunuchs who saw him cover their mouths and giggle.

Zhang Jie didn't mind this, but Li Dequan, who was serving by his side, could not ignore it.

This matter concerned the dignity of the Son of Heaven, after all, and could not be taken lightly.

"Is this something you are allowed to look at? Shut your mouths at once!"

He glared fiercely at the giggling maids and eunuchs.

"Ugh!"

Under the terrifying, awe-inspiring pressure of the Chief Eunuch, the giggling eunuchs and maids were all struck with fear.

They quickly suppressed their smiles, straightened their faces, and put on an indifferent appearance.

"Hee hee..."

"Haha..."

Unfortunately, after Li Dequan left, bursts of light laughter reached his ears again.

"His Majesty and the various consorts are still too lenient."

Li Dequan shook his head with a bitter smile.

His Majesty was gentle and kind to his subordinates, which meant that he, the Chief Eunuch, had "lost much of his dignity" within the palace.

One must know that even in the former Song Dynasty, eunuchs and maids who dared to laugh out loud at the Son of Heaven's expense like this would have been beaten to death on the spot.

Even if they weren't beaten to death, they would be sent to bitter offices like the Laundry Bureau,

worked until they dropped dead, with no hope left for the rest of their lives, forced to spend their days in despair.

'However, this kind of feeling is also quite nice.'

The next second, a smile appeared on his face.

Compared to the former Song Dynasty, where the Chief Eunuch could be called the "Inner Chancellor" and even the Prime Minister of the outer court had to give way,

where their power was truly beneath one person but above ten thousand, capable of blotting out the sky with one hand,

that was a bloody path climbed over the corpses of countless eunuchs in the inner court.

He still preferred this current environment, where although the power was slightly smaller, he didn't have to sleep with one eye open.

Zhang Jie, who had taken in the expressions of Li Dequan and the eunuchs and maids, curled the corners of his mouth slightly.

Even Zhu Ba-ba, who had initiated several major cases during the Hongwu era and would send tens of thousands of people to their deaths at the slightest provocation, had to warn his cruel and tyrannical son,

to be a little kinder to those around him, because compared to others,

these people who spent their days and nights by his side, as long as they were willing to pay the price of something like the "Nine-Clan Elimination Game,"

could absolutely trade their lives for yours.

In later generations, there was a legend about Zhu Yuanzhang and his chef, though its authenticity was unknown.

It was said that one day, Zhu Yuanzhang was enjoying his meal, but just as he was happily eating,

he found a hair in the dish before him, and he flew into a rage.

Feeding the Hongwu Emperor of the Great Ming Empire food that had been "seasoned" with extras—was this even logical?

Were the lives of the imperial chef's nine clans and his own head being sold at wholesale prices?

Or were they bought on a second-hand app?

The furious Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest the imperial chef who had made the dish.

Once confirmed, he was to be dealt with swiftly and severely.

The arrested chef was also very aggrieved, repeatedly guaranteeing that the food he made would absolutely never contain hair,

and was willing to stake not only the reputation of his ancestors for eighteen generations but also his entire nine clans as a guarantee.

Zhu Yuanzhang expressed great suspicion; how could anyone give such a guarantee?

He immediately judged that this chef was neither loyal nor honest,

and called the Embroidered Uniform Guard to show this chef some "artistic talent."

When the chef saw the group of murderous Embroidered Uniform Guards coming toward him aggressively, his legs went soft with fear.

He quickly knelt and begged for mercy, giving a reason that left Zhu Yuanzhang speechless.

He took off the hat he never left home without, revealing his smooth, shiny bald head, so slick that even a fly would slip off it.

If he had just had a few monk's burn marks, he would have been a living, breathing bald donkey. The chef pointed at his bald head, aggrieved, and accused:

"Your Majesty, I have shaved my head since I entered the palace as an imperial chef. How could I possibly leave hair in the imperial meal?

This is clearly a villain framing me. I hope Your Majesty will see the truth."

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw his head, which was practically glowing, he knew he had wronged him.

This strong-willed emperor, who was incredibly tough on the outside, almost never compromised,

and had killed so many meritorious nobles that their heads rolled like balls, actually apologized to the chef in a friendly manner.

Afterward, he sent in the professionals, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and sure enough, they quickly discovered that the person framing the chef was his second-in-command, who had been trying to take his position.

Anyone could tell this story had been artistically embellished,

for instance, how could the Embroidered Uniform Guard not have known the chef was bald beforehand?

Perhaps the Embroidered Uniform Guard of later generations, who gradually became corrupt, degenerate, and rusty in their professional skills, might have been negligent,

but the Embroidered Uniform Guard of the Hongwu era were ruthless men who had killed their way out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

How could they lack even this bit of professional capability?

However, this also showed that Old Zhu's kindness to those close to him was widely circulated even among the common people.

Even in later generations, the drivers and home nannies of high-ranking leaders were treated with the utmost care.

Old Zhu's caution made the former Liang Emperor Zhang Zuo,

Gao Cheng, the Shizong of Northern Qi, and Yelu Jing, the Muzong of Liao, would call this a professional move.

If a person is killed, they will die.

When the Son of Heaven is enraged, a million corpses fall and blood flows like a river, but when an ordinary man is enraged, he can splash blood five paces away and force the world into mourning.

Although Zhang Jie possesses profound cultivation and does not fear assassination, if possible,

what normal person would be willing to live in an environment filled with dissatisfaction and hatred?

Amidst his contemplation and grumbling, Zhang Jie arrived at the Chuigong Hall, which was specifically used to receive high-ranking officials.

This place was originally the "Inner Court" where the various Emperors of the Great Song handled state affairs and summoned their ministers.

Even during the Southern Song, Zhao Jiumei had set up such a hall in Lin'an.

Zhang Jie had taken over everything from the Great Song, and this Chuigong Hall was naturally no exception.

And because neither Zhao Ji nor Zhao Huan had organized any decent resistance when Zhang Jie attacked Bianjing,

although a few eunuchs and palace maids in the palace had taken advantage of the chaos to steal many rare treasures, antiques, and paintings,

in the end, no one dared to use methods like burning down the granary to cover up the accounts,

so the Chuigong Hall and other buildings were preserved extremely well.

Zhang Jie was also very satisfied with this hall, which featured a five-bay, twelve-rafter layout, was six zhang long,

eight zhang and four chi wide, adopted a nine-ridge roof structure, and formed a dual-axis palace system with the Wende Hall

and Zichen Hall, symbolizing the Great Song,

and even the greatest product of Huaxia's five-thousand-year architectural civilization,

so he also arranged for his daily office to be located here.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live, long live, long, long live Your Majesty!"

As soon as Zhang Jie entered the main hall, a burly man who had been waiting for a long time, with a face full of murderous aura and unconcealable ferocity in his eyes,

looking like a star of slaughter descended from heaven, bowed to him like a collapsing golden mountain and a toppling jade pillar.

Although this man was wearing armor, he wore no helmet and carried no sword or blade.

A massive, bronze-colored bald head was incredibly conspicuous under the sunlight shining into the hall,

and a colorful, lifelike tattoo was partially visible on his thick neck.

If not Zhang Jie's trusted and beloved general, the Commander-in-Chief of the Great Gan's most elite heavy infantry, the Dragon-Elephant Army,

the Grand Commander of the Rear Army of the Five Armies Governor's Office—the highest military institution of the Great Gan—who once pulled up a weeping willow by its roots, possessed astonishing divine strength,

stood up for Jin Cuilian, punched the Zhenguanxi, and drunkenly smashed the Heavenly King Hall,

who else could it be but the flower monk Lu Zhishen of the Bodhisattva statue?

Chuigong Hall: My area is small, I cannot accommodate so many people~

"Brother Lu, though we are monarch and subject in name, our bond is like brothers; there is no need for such excessive courtesy."

Zhang Jie smiled and helped the bowing Lu Zhishen up.

"Your Majesty, what virtue or ability does this subject have to deserve such grace from you?"

The burly man, filled with the aura of slaughter, had tears in his tiger-like eyes.

"Haha."

Having bought the hearts of the people once more, Zhang Jie laughed and pulled Lu Zhishen to sit down.

Call it buying hearts if you will, but his appreciation for this flower monk Lu Zhishen in his heart was not fake in the slightest.

Looking at the entire 108 heroes of Liang Shan, there were only one and a half who could truly be called heroes.

Half a one was Wu Song, Wu Erlang, who fought a tiger on Jingyang Ridge and killed Ximen Qing in a rage at Lion Tower to avenge his brother Wu Dalang.

The one was naturally the flower monk Lu Zhishen, who saw injustice and drew his sword to help,

who could punch the Zhenguanxi just to help a Jin Cuilian with whom he had no relation,

gave up his position as a garrison officer under the command of the Little Grand Coordinator Minister Zhong Shizhong,

pulled up a weeping willow by its roots, and righteously saved Lin Chong in the Wild Boar Forest.

As for the others, the one named 'Timely Rain' who let the leader Chao Gai die in an unclear manner;

the one called 'Little Zhuge' who couldn't even handle the beginning and end of the Birthday Gift,

was forced up to Liang Shan, and relied entirely on killing and arson to trick people into joining the mountain, Wu Yong;

and even the 'Mother Yaksha' Sun Erniang and her husband 'Vegetable Garden' Zhang Qing, who ran a black shop with a big tree, drugging guests coming from the south and north,

serving the good ones as beef and chopping the bad ones into buns (in the Song Dynasty, buns were steamed buns,

steamed buns were called cuibing, and the slogan Wu Dalang shouted while carrying his pole along the street was "Cuibing,

freshly out of the pot, hot cuibing~");

and the likes of Short-legged Tiger Wang Ying, who was accustomed to drinking clear wine soup made from human hearts and livers, and from whom even our 'Timely Rain',

Brother Song Jiang, Song Gongming, barely escaped, there is absolutely no need to mention them again.

In fact, in Zhang Jie's view, the 108 heroes of Liang Shan were said to be a gathering of heroes,

drinking wine from big bowls, eating meat in big chunks, and dividing gold with big scales, which seemed truly carefree and happy,

but except for a few people like Lu Zhishen, the others were just a nest of snakes, insects, rats, and ants huddling together for warmth.

It is no wonder that the beginning of Water Margin is about Grand Marshal Hong accidentally kicking over the Demon-Suppressing Tablet on Long Hu Shan, releasing 108 demon stars.