When they arrived at the office room in the backyard of Wenyuan Pavilion, the three of them sat down separately. Li Dongyang roughly explained the situation of meeting the saint before.

Liu Jian nodded slightly and said thoughtfully: "It seems that the prince is indeed no longer in the palace. What's more, he is still stranded outside for a long time and will not return... Yu Qiao went to Jiangnan for no reason. Could it be that the prince went to Nanzhili alone and his Majesty sent Yu Qiao to find the prince?"

Although Wang Hua did not know the specific situation about the East Palace, he was the leader of the Eastern Palace lecturer after all, and had some contact with the prince's close servants in the palace. From the evasive words of these people, it can be judged that the prince should have left the palace, rather than being recuperated as the court said.

The relationship between Wang Hua and Li Dongyang and Liu Jian is very strong. If Chen Xi had not appeared, Xie Qian would have been an extremely important member of the group.

But now Xie Qian is becoming increasingly disinterested. Liu Jian and Li Dongyang are angry and even have plans to recommend Wang Hua to the cabinet to replace Xie Qian.

Wang Hua said cautiously: "Although what Mr. Liu said is reasonable, Your Majesty is now very secretive about the matter of the prince. As a minister, shouldn't we keep secrets for the king and father? If the subjects learn that the prince is naughty and leave the capital without authorization, they will probably be disloyal..."

After all, Wang Hua is the youngest secretary of the Zhanshi Mansion, and Zhu Houzhao's husband, and what he cares about is the stability of the royal family and the court.

He knew very well what impact the prince's departure from Beijing would have on his reputation. Although this matter would not affect the legitimacy of Zhu Houzhao's succession, the court officials and the people would think that the prince was ridiculous and acted weirdly and rudely. He actually ran out to play when his father was sick, completely ignoring the stability of the Ming Dynasty's country.

Li Dongyang's face turned pale: "Is it because he does not distinguish between justice and does not talk about right and wrong? No matter whether the prince does something right or wrong, he will keep his mouth shut and do good deeds? He must tell others about things. If the prince leaves Beijing, whether it is private or not, he will only discuss things on the matter. If it cannot be retrieved for a while, and causes changes in the inheritance of the throne, is this what the minister does?"

Although Wang Hua felt that he should not play the opposite of Li Dongyang in such a thing, he still expressed his opinion in a tactful manner: "Your Majesty is unwilling to make the matter public. I am afraid that the prince will encounter danger outside. Nowadays, the foreign countries and bandits are all thinking about the Ming Dynasty. Even the nobles of the vassal kings... cannot be completely relieved!"

Li Dongyang did not answer Wang Hua, but turned his head to look at Liu Jian and asked, "What do you think Liu Shaofu thinks?"

Liu Jian's face turned deep at this time.

Now, Liu Jian can almost make a decision in the Ming Dynasty. Even if Xiao Jing can't do anything about him, the civil service group has developed to the point of taking charge of the government affairs. Zhang Mao, who is in charge of the army, is a good man, and Xiao Jing, who represents the emperor, is also a vocal insect. Emperor Hongzhi's illness, the civil service group refused to recognize the position of the prince as the prince, but no one in the court could restrain him.

Even though Ma Wensheng and Liu Daxia seem to have different political views from Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others in the court, they are also civil servants themselves. In addition, Ma Wensheng and Liu Daxia are in charge of six ministries and cannot interfere in cabinet work, so they will not sing a counter-arrangement with Liu Jian and other civil servant leaders in court.

Liu Jian narrowed his eyes and said, "I don't know your majesty's intention yet, and I can't prove whether the prince is still in the palace. However, if the prince really has left the capital and has not yet found anyone, he must inform the world of this matter and ask the local officials to help find it. For the time being, a few people will be mobilized to report to Your Majesty, asking the prince to resume the lecture on the sutra... Binzhi, you will contact the person this time, and you must act within one or two days!"

"good!"

Li Dongyang nodded and agreed.

Even though Wang Hua had long known the arbitrary behavior of the civil servant group, he never expected that Liu Jian and Li Dongyang would dare to force the emperor to express their opinions so blatantly. No matter how he heard it, he felt that what the two people in front of him did was not like what the ministers should do, and were no different from those of the lords or traitors.

However, Wang Hua is still very impressed by Liu Jian and Li Dongyang's character and does not think that the two cabinet ministers would plan to usurp the throne. He feels very awkward at the moment and is completely unable to adapt to their style of conduct.

Li Dongyang stood up and said, "It is appropriate to report this matter to the Grand Historian. Two groups of officials from the Hanyuan Court should report it. If Your Majesty refuses, he will kneel down to advise Wumen. Why does Liu Shaofu think?"

Liu Jian finally showed a smile on his face and nodded, "Sure!"

Li Dongyang received Liu Jian's affirmation and support, and was excited. He stood up and went to the Hanlin Academy. It was obvious that he had asked the Hanlins to report together.

Wang Hua stood up and was at a loss for a moment. He suddenly felt that he had done something wrong and leaked the secrets in the palace, and then fermented by the two cabinet ministers, which might cause a big problem.

Wang Hua thought to himself: "The crown prince is the crown prince of the country and carries the hope of the world. If the crown prince is shamed, he will be shamed for the Ming Dynasty. What is Liu Shaofu and Binzhi doing?" He couldn't understand why Liu Jian and Li Dongyang were about to start the matter when they heard that the crown prince was missing, as if they had to make it known to everyone.

Wang Hua thought that this was a private matter of the royal family after all. Although the prince was naughty, no one could replace him. Not only did he lose his reputation, he would not only attract the royal family's hatred.

However, he did not know that because of the previous emperor's suppression of the civil service group, Liu Jian and Li Dongyang were particularly concerned about the memorial that "the prince was young and strong and could not be involved in the affairs of the people". They wanted to prove that the prince was a child and that the court could not let a young boy who was ignorant of the world make the decision, but that they, the "loyal ministers", were fully responsible.

...

...

The sky is clear and the sun is scorching.

The hot air seemed to be frozen by the sun, and Shen Xi felt a sense of suffocation that he couldn't breathe.

After June, the temperature in Jianggan area rose all the way, and by noon, it was even more scorching. The team could no longer follow the normal schedule and could only rush to travel while the weather was relatively cool in the morning and evening, camping around and around noon, and choosing a place to be in the jungle or the shade in the mountains.

Shen Xi originally wanted to let the team walk at night, but she was afraid that the place would not be peaceful and would encounter bandits and robbers.

After passing De'an, the team went south through Jianchang, and all the way was the official road.

Shen Xi did not avoid the local officials and gentry who threatened to assassinate him. He brought many guards on this trip. Except for the yamen runners, the weapons of the other soldiers were advanced enough. Even if the muskets were not fully equipped, at least the strong crossbows and bows were excellent. The waist knives, spears and chain mail were all made of fine iron extracted from blast furnace iron.

In addition, all the soldiers were carefully selected from various garrisons in Huguang, and they were all strong. Shen Xi also trained in the way of training soldiers in later generations, formulated strict rules and regulations, had generous treatment, and also clarified the last-place elimination system, which gave the soldiers a sense of crisis and mission.

With De'an's lesson, Shen Xi did not enter the city when he passed Jianchang.

In Shen Xi's view, Jianchang County is not a peaceful place. The key is that the fief of Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Jianchang, is here.

Zhang Yanling was previously a founder of Jianchang, and then was granted the title of Jianchang Marquis. His fief was in Jianggan, but he had never been a vassal. However, his hand reached out early. After all, it involved fiefs and land. For this reason, a group of thugs were raised in Jianchang County, which was responsible for expropriating land rent, etc.

It is said that Zhang Yanling has done many acts of occupying people's fields and doing evil in the capital, but perhaps because Jianchang County is too far away from the capital, Zhang Yanling has not yet made any moves of anger between the humans and gods in Jianchang County.
Chapter completed!