Zhu Houzhao is either a mean eunuch who is capable but cowardly in character, such as Xiao Jing, or an eunuch who is incompetent but ambitious, such as Zhang Yuan.

In general, Zhu Houzhao's desire to obtain power now seems unrealistic.

The power of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others in the court has been deeply rooted. After the accumulation of the Xiaozong Dynasty, a complete personnel system has been formed from top to bottom. It is not to say that Zhu Houzhao can succeed if he wants to collapse. Even people like Xie Qian, who were once the core of the civil service group, can be isolated from the core power layer once they offend Liu Jian and Li Dongyang, let alone a young up-and-coming star like Chen Xi.

The court follows the jungle law where those who follow me will prosper and those who go against me will perish. Here, Zhu Houzhao occupies at least the top of the food chain, but he just cannot swallow the next layer of his predators.

Now Chen Xi has sent Liu Jin back to the capital, which is considered as giving Zhu Houzhao a "grace gift".

To disintegrate a powerful civil servant group, one must build a group of eunuchs completely controlled by the emperor's will from scratch, and a powerful eunuch needs to be the leader.

Chen Xi does not want to be criticized by thousands of people. If he is a powerful minister who is dissatisfied with dissidents, it is better to follow the trend of history and let Liu Jin return to the court. As for whether Liu Jin is capable of taking charge of the government, it depends on his ability. Chen Xi will not interfere. In the future, Liu Jin will gain power and Chen Xi will temporarily avoid his edge.

As long as Chen Xi stayed in the local area to be an official, he would not have a head-on conflict with Liu Jin, and then he would be able to maintain a general peace and stability between him and Liu Jin.

In Shen Xi's view, although this may not be the best measure for the Ming Dynasty, it will definitely form the most favorable situation for Zhu Houzhao to take power.

The civil servant group cannot be disintegrated by collapse. It is basically impossible for the emperor to kill a civil servant, especially the famous cabinet chief. But if he wants to kill a eunuch, even if the eunuch has great power, to put it bluntly, it is just a dog raised by the emperor, and he will kill him as soon as he says he wants to kill.

From the prosperous Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, and then to the Ming Dynasty, although countless eunuchs were in power and there were also problems in which eunuchs decided to belong to the throne, no eunuch could be the emperor.

Eunuchs knew their responsibilities. They were slaves of the royal family. When the royal family flourished, the eunuchs prospered. When the royal family was defeated, the eunuchs died. Any emperor would rather use eunuchs than use civil officials. When encountering disputes between the government, they always took eunuchs out to pay off the crime and killed eunuchs to calm internal conflicts. To put it bluntly, this is a way for the emperor to win people's hearts.

...

...

I saw that the news of Emperor Hongzhi's death finally reached Guangxi, and Taiping Prefecture governed the entire city of Chongshan County.

As Zhu Houzhao's will "not disturb the people" came along with the news, the army only worshiped the north for three days. During this period, no noise or squatting or entertainment were allowed. When time passed, everything would return to normal.

At this time, Chen Xi finally began to consider withdrawing the army.

The journey south was smooth sailing, and almost all the enemies he encountered were defeated. The results he could achieve were the two "great victories" between Baoqing Prefecture and Nanning Prefecture, but they were much worse than the great achievements he had achieved in the northwest battlefield.

Chen Xi "showed mercy" about the rebellion of ethnic minorities in the southwest, because after all, the rebels were all the people of the Ming Dynasty. Chen Xi formulated a strategy to appease Huairou from the beginning of the rebellion. As for the battle at Baoqing Prefecture, it was a completely encounter battle and had to respond hastily. It was this battle that brought the might of Chen Xi and laid the foundation for the invincible pattern of quelling the rebellion. The armed forces of ethnic minorities did not dare to fight head-on with the official army, and even had tribes informed them before the war began.

As for the battle against Jiaozhi, there is a beginning but no end.

Because the court did not allow Chen Xi to lead troops into Jiaozhi, and later Emperor Hongzhi passed away, Chen Xi would not provoke the fragile nerves of the court during this sensitive period.

On the southwest battlefield, Chen Xi allowed Su Jingyang, Wang He and the soldiers they led to achieve the expected military achievements. It is naturally no problem to ask for rewards after returning.

However, Chen Xi was poured a basin of sewage on this trip. When he was in Nanning Prefecture City, he was framed by the prefect Gao Ji and his daughter-in-law Gao Ning for offending local officials and gentry. The court has not yet reached a conclusion.

On the 29th day of the first lunar month, Chenxi set a date for return, which was the second day of the second lunar month, and there were only two days left to prepare.

When officials and gentry of Taiping Prefecture learned that Chen Xi was leaving, they sent people to reward and sent a lot of condolences. This has almost become the norm during this period.

Chen Xi knew that the officials here were all local emperors, and their control over the local area was almost omnipresent. Anyone who went to their place to make a living would inevitably be exploited. Even if the court changed the emperor, their status would not change. This is the biggest difference between local officials and foreign officials.

That night, the officers and soldiers gathered around the bonfire. Chen Xi selected 500 people from Huguang and Jiangxi soldiers, and let them dive into the deep mountains and forests to train the soldiers' survival ability in the wild, and spy on the local information to find out the specific locations of each ethnic minority village.

In addition to completing daily training, these elites also brought back a batch of prey. In addition to the condolences sent from the local area, each soldier could eat meat happily.

There were still two days before the three armies set out. Except for the soldiers who patrol daily, the rest of the officers and soldiers took turns to rest, and the smell of flesh was everywhere on the huge school ground.

This time, there were no wine, only large pieces of animal meat, and unlimited mutton soup. At the end of the first lunar month in Lingnan, the weather was just hot and cold, and this kind of day was very pleasant for soldiers.

Chen Xi, Su Jingyang and others took a bowl of mutton soup by the bonfire in front of the Central Army's tent, put down the bowl of mutton meat and was about to cut the roasted goat meat with a knife when they saw the military inspector Zhang Yong walking over with a dark face.

Until now, Zhang Yong didn't know why Liu Jin was missing. He thought he was imprisoned by Chen Xi or had been poisoned, and he didn't know where the body was thrown.

After Liu Jin disappeared, Zhang Yong became much more restrained and carefully avoided Chen Xi, for fear that he would die inexplicably. He either pretended to be deaf and dumb when he was promoted several times, or he agreed everywhere, and did not dare to make a noise.

Su Jing and Yang were in a daze. Seeing Zhang Yong coming, he quickly stood up and saluted, and then greeted: "Eunuch Zhang, let's warm up the body with a piece of lamb leg meat?"

Zhang Yong looked at Su Jingyang and said angrily: "You want to choke to death with such a large amount of oil and water? I can't eat this meat. Whoever likes to eat it... Who will serve a bowl of soup?"

After saying that, Zhang Yong sat down on the felt pad, waiting for someone to deliver food and drink.

Su Jingyang was kind-hearted and relaxed his relationship with Zhang Yong, considering that Zhang Yong was an eunuch in the military supervision and would return to Beijing to report his duties when the troops retreated. He might meet the new emperor. At that time, he might talk about the commander of the army. Su Jingyang wanted to curry favor and leave a good impression, but as a result, his hot face was pressed against his cold butt, which made him feel embarrassed.

When Wang He saw Su Jingyang hit a wall, he didn't say anything and pretended not to see it.

Chen Xi was eating lamb leg meat on his own, ignoring Zhang Yong's unreasonable trouble. Zhang Yong waited for a while, and saw that no one was paying attention, he got up from the ground in disappointment, brushed his sleeves and went back to the tent to rest.

Wang He said angrily: "I just sat down and left after a while, without any rules. Are the people from the palace so arrogant and rude?"

"Don't care!"

Su Jingyang said angrily, "The inhuman old eunuch deserves no children, and there is no one to guide him in the future. He lives so boring. By the way, Brother Wang, you said before that your wife gave birth to a fat boy for you. How is the situation now..."

When the war ended, the conflict between Su Jingyang and Wang He was gone.

The two sat down, mostly discussing military affairs, and occasionally chatting about family matters. The wives and children at home talked the most. Their eldest son was only one or two years younger than Chen Xi, but they were still very concerned about it. Chen Xi was already their supreme commander. Sometimes people were really angry.

Chen Xi rarely communicates with them about family affairs. Although talking about these things will enhance the intimacy between the coach and the soldiers, it will also make the majesty disappear.

He felt that it was necessary to maintain the majesty of the commander in the army, and he did not like this kind of parental discussion and would not tell others about his family's situation.

Seeing that the two commanders were talking vigorously, Chen Xi stood up and left. Su Jingyang asked, "Sir, where are you going?"

"I've gone back to the account and rest!"

Chen Xi reminded, "Although we are leaving, there is no problem with the patrol and security. Jiaozhi Army and local rebels may kill us at any time. Don't take it lightly!"

Su Jingyang laughed: "Don't worry, sir, let's arrange the matter..."

Chen Xi took the guards and went to his tent leisurely. He was different from the generals in the army. He was surrounded by female relatives, once Hui Niang and Li Jin. After Hui Niang and Li Jin returned to Wuchang Prefecture from the north of Liuzhou Prefecture, there were Yun Liu and Xier whom he had not yet taken to him.

Thinking of Xier, Chen Xi remembers the pillow wind that Yunliu has been blowing for days... Xier is so hardworking, so hard, and so admiration for adults!

To put it bluntly, it is one thing. Yunliu hopes to make his sisters become Chen Xi's women as soon as possible.

As soon as Chen Xi arrived at the tent, he saw Yun Liu and Xier standing in front of him in men's clothing. Yun Liu said, "Sir, the things you arranged have been explained. Four groups of scouts went north and went to the Nanning Prefecture to spy on the enemy's situation!"

"Um!"

Chen Xi nodded with relief and asked, "Have you just returned?"

Yun Liu said: "Yes!"

Chen Xi nodded and said, "Then let's go in together..."

Chen Xi went straight into the tent, Yun Liu followed, but Xier didn't dare to enter Chen Xi's tent casually. Chen Xi said: "Add to arrange it and prepare for bathing water. I'm tired, take a shower and relax..."

"Sir, what should I do if Xier?" Yun Liu asked suddenly.

Chen Xi glanced at Xier. At this time, Xier lowered her head, and there was still a little fear on her face. It was obvious that the young man who was insignificant in her eyes in the past has now become an unattainable existence and has no courage to look at Chen Xi right away.
Chapter completed!