Liu Jin was taken to the Ganqing Palace by eunuchs.

When Zhu Houzhao saw Liu Jin, he almost didn't recognize him. Compared with his image of accompanying him south, he paid great attention to appearance and dressed brightly, Liu Jin in front of him was very down and sloppy, and Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but frown when he saw him.

As soon as Liu Jin saw Zhu Houzhao, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "Old slave Liu Jin, see Your Majesty... Woo, Your Majesty, I finally see your face!"

Zhu Houzhao grinned. He didn't understand why Liu Jin was so miserable. He frowned and asked, "Eunuch Liu get up and talk...Aren't you going to accompany Shangshu Chen in the south to fight? You are the military supervisor, how could you come back to the capital silently? Did the south to defeat the war and the news was blocked? Are you going back to Beijing to inform me of the news?"

Liu Jin did not get up and continued to kneel on the ground and cried: "Your Majesty, I have been ordered by Shangshu Chen to report the southern war report in detail to the capital... There was no defeat in the south, but Shangshu Chen won several battles and is now ready to go back to Huguang..."

"I am in the army and some people want to harm me. When Mr. Chen saw that the situation was not good, he asked me to return to the capital first... Your Majesty, the old slave has experienced disasters along the way, and it can be said that he has returned for a lifetime of death... I miss Your Majesty!"

Liu Jin burst into tears and even said something bad. Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but feel a little disgusted when he heard this. However, when he heard that the south had won the battle, Zhu Houzhao finally had some patience and said disdainfully:

"You are just an old eunuch without eggs. What you do does not harm the country and the country. Who will kill you if you have nothing to do? Did you provoke some powerful enemies in the local area?"

"Oh by the way, it was not that Gao Ji, the prefect of Nanning, did it? I heard that he even dared to accuse Shangshu Chen, and it was not impossible to kill you!"

Liu Jin had been preparing to sue Diao before and talked about Chen Xi's forced robbery of a minority girl in Nanning Mansion, but when he heard Zhu Houzhao's words, he knew that doing so was just a matter of causing trouble for himself.

"Your Majesty, I don't know who I have offended. There are always people following and chasing them along the way back to Beijing. If it weren't for the people sent by Lord Shen to protect them, I guess I've been dead several times. As for whom I want to harm, I'm also confused. Now that I can return to Your Majesty safely, I don't want to worry too much, and I want to stay by Your Majesty and serve Your Majesty..."

Although Zhu Houzhao used to rely heavily on Liu Jin, influenced by Chen Xi, he became disgusted with Liu Jin for a while and expelled him from the Eastern Palace. Although Liu Jin later gained trust by helping Zhu Houzhao out of the palace and leading him south, Zhu Houzhao still did not regard Liu Jin very well, thinking that he, like Zhang Yuan, could not really help him.

Zhu Houzhao now trusts Li Xing more in his eunuch who can do things and help him find women. The naughty child has always had a thorn in his heart, thinking that Liu Jin's motives to stay with him when he returns to Beijing are impure, and he is threatening him to fulfill his original promise.

Zhu Houzhao seemed a little impatient: "Okay, okay, since you are back, you will rest for a while. Shangshu Chen asked you to report the matter, and have you submitted it to the Ministry of War?"

"Never!"

Liu Jin said tremblingly, "After returning to the capital, I was thinking about Your Majesty and immediately returned to the palace to meet Your Majesty!"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand: "Okay, I know you are loyal, but no matter how loyal you are, don't always talk about it. You must implement it in action. You go back and change your clothes first, and then go to see my mother and ask her to arrange your errands in the palace... It's really troublesome. Seeing you like this, those who don't know would think it was dug out of a grave..."

Zhu Houzhao's tone was full of sarcasm, mainly because he felt that Liu Jin was coming back in an abnormal manner. Due to the clumsiness of Dai Yi, Zhang Yuan and others, he was losing trust in the eunuchs around him.

The palace examination was still underway at this time. Zhu Houzhao took Liu Jin to meet Empress Zhang, saying that she was asking for an errand for Liu Jin, but in fact she wanted to see if her mother was still angry.

Yesterday, he was too troubled. The naughty child knew that he had offended my mother. When he woke up in the morning, he was worried that he would tell Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others about his bad deeds, and he was frightened. Although Zhu Houzhao was in the rebellious period of youth, he was still the child's nature. He did something wrong on impulse and was worried that he would affect his throne's stability. After he came back, he wanted to go to my mother to admit his mistake.

...

...

In Kunning Palace, when Empress Zhang saw Zhu Houzhao, she looked dark and said nothing... Empress Zhang was still angry with her son, not only angry that Xiao Jing, who she sent to protect Zhu Houzhao, was beaten, but also that as the emperor, she did not return home at night yesterday.

Liu Jin stood beside him tremblingly, and after listening for a while, he probably understood what was going on.

Zhu Houzhao did not deliberately hide the matter of leaving the palace, just to let Liu Jin know that he would often go out to the palace to play.

What he thought was that since Li Xing was not here, he always needed someone to help him take care of him. Zhang Yuan had a conflict with him before, so that Zhu Houzhao's trust in Zhang Yuan was reduced to the lowest point. When Liu Jin returned, Zhu Houzhao wanted to make good use of this old attendant of the Eastern Palace.

"... Empress Dowager, don't be angry. Your Majesty is back safely now?" Xiao Jing, whose face was covered with blue-black bruises, tried hard to persuade Queen Zhang.

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, she couldn't help but glared at Xiao Jing, with boredom and hostility in her eyes. The change in the atmosphere in Kunning Palace could not escape the keen eyes of Liu Jin.

Liu Jin probably knew that Xiao Jing, the eunuch in charge of the seal of the Sili Supervisor, had lost the emperor's trust because Xiao Jing chose to stand on the side of the empress dowager between the emperor and the empress dowager.

Empress Zhang said: "You don't stop the emperor from leaving the palace. What's the use of saying that he is going to protect him? The emperor should stay at the palace gate. What are the dangers after leaving the palace? Who will take responsibility?"

Xiao Jing was timid and didn't know how to balance the relationship between the mother and son who had the highest power in the Ming Dynasty. As a slave of the royal family, he just wanted to be a good person who calmed down and didn't think about how to solve the problem at all, but just kept persuading him.

Zhu Houzhao looked at him disdainfully: "Mother, my son will leave the palace in the future. Please do not interfere. My son will go wherever he wants. If you block it, it will be the harem's interference in politics. Now that I am the emperor, it is no longer the time when my father is alive, I will decide on all matters in the court in the future."

"If the mother's queen interferes too much, I will issue an order to invite the mother to stay in Yongning Palace or Cining Palace. My son will only go to greet him during the holidays in the future..."

At this time, Zhu Houzhao was already threatening me with a stern tone... What's so great about being the empress dowager? I am the emperor. I will be nice to you only if I agree with you. If I don't agree with you, I will leave you where the empress dowager should go. I won't see you until the festival is on, let's see how you are!

Empress Zhang was even more angry when she heard her son's threat, but she had no choice. As soon as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty had high power, even if Empress Zhang wanted to take power, she could not pass the level of civil officials such as Liu Jian and Li Dongyang.

It is even said that even if Empress Zhang can win over civil officials, she is not able to take power because she is just an ordinary woman with no political ambitions and just wants to live a stable life. She has been with her husband over the years and has made her develop the habit of relying on her husband for everything and has no love for power.

Xiao Jing looked at Zhu Houzhao with concern and wanted to say something. Suddenly he remembered what Zhu Houzhao did yesterday and swallowed the words he was about to say.

Liu Jin suddenly walked out and knelt down: "Your Majesty, how could you speak to the Empress Dowager like this? You and the Empress Dowager are thicker than water. The Emperor is gone. Your Majesty should be filial to the Empress Dowager!"

At this time, there was no chance for Liu Jin to interrupt, but he stood up and said that he actually wanted to gain some political capital for himself.

Liu Jin's biggest advantage is that he has grasped Zhu Houzhao's psychology. He has been with Zhu Houzhao since he was a child. It can be said that he has witnessed Zhu Houzhao's growth. He may not know much about other things, but in terms of grasping Zhu Houzhao's psychology, there is no one in the entire palace that is stronger than him. Chen Xi even dares to say that he knows Zhu Houzhao better than Liu Jin.

He said this because he saw that Zhu Houzhao was very proud of his face and wanted to confront his mother with some words, but he regretted it after saying these words. However, Zhu Houzhao had no steps to go down, so Liu Jin wanted to come out to borrow a ladder for Zhu Houzhao.

In this way, Zhu Houzhao was able to live up to his face, and Queen Zhang would also feel that this was very popular. Liu Jin was the one who benefited from it inside and outside.

Queen Zhang glared at her son and said angrily: "He still has filial piety?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "My mother, if you are kind to your child and support your child in everything, how can you compete with you? Now that the child is not young and has become the emperor, you still have the same discipline as before. The child now has his own judgment on many things... It is precisely because the mother insists on affecting the child's decision that the child will be rude to the mother!"

After hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, Xiao Jing found that the master's tone had become much softer, which means that Liu Jin's words had already worked.

Xiao Jing was very puzzled. He said similar words yesterday, but was scolded by Zhu Houzhao and even knocked out. But now Liu Jin has just returned to the palace and said the same words to resonate with Zhu Houzhao. He really doesn't know what's going on.

Queen Zhang said: "What do you mean, you will often leave the palace in the future?"

Queen Zhang's attitude became loose. She meant that you would not be able to leave the palace often, and occasionally you would tolerate it once or twice.

Queen Zhang knew that there was no benefit in making a stubborn relationship with her, and it would only make her relationship with her more indifferent. It would be better to take a step back so that her status could be preserved and her son would not be too chaotic in the future.

This is a mother's compromise.

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said, "It should be okay for me to leave the palace three or five times a month? If the number of times is small, I don't agree!"

Queen Zhang's face was still very angry, but she could only act at this time. Queen Zhang had already been angry yesterday, and she just wanted to find a way out.

Liu Jin took the opportunity to come out and said, "Empress Dowager, if Your Majesty wants to leave the palace in the future, the old slave will definitely bring guards to protect him, and he will never let His Majesty have any mistakes."

"Please rest assured by the Queen Mother, I will protect His Majesty all the time when I fight to the death!"
Chapter completed!