Zhang Mao's carriage was parked in front of Shen's door.

After the servant went up to report, Zhu Qi, the housekeeper of the Chen Mansion, came out to welcome him. Zhang Mao waved his hand: "You can bring me in to see your master. If you have the rest, I will naturally say it when I see your master."

Zhang Mao was afraid of being turned away, so he put pressure on him as soon as he came.

However, Zhu Qi was a mature spirit and knew very well about Zhang Mao's status in the court. Chen Xi had already given instructions before that "big figures" would not stop visiting him, so he took the initiative to welcome Zhang Mao into the mansion.

At the same time as Zhang Mao entered the door, Zhu Hong had informed the backyard of the news of Zhang Mao’s arrival.

Chen Xi tidied up his clothes and went to the study.

When Zhang Mao arrived in the study, Chen Xi had just arrived. The two of them faced each other. Chen Xi hurriedly stepped forward to greet him: "Honey, why are you visiting late at night?"

Zhang Mao smiled and said, "Zhihou, it's not easy to enter your mansion... I heard that during the days when you were sick, no one else could enter your house except the people from the palace..."

Chen Xi thought about the meaning of Zhang Mao's words and thought to himself: "If others don't say it, you, Zhang Mao, are well-informed, can you not know that He Jian has come to me? You are clearly a satirizing that I am not humane..."

Chen Xidao: "Mr. Zhang is here and you can enter anytime."

"hehe!"

Zhang Mao twisted his beard and smiled, then stretched out his hand, "Then let's go in and talk?"

Chen Xi led the way for Zhang Mao, and the two entered the study. Without first greetings, Zhang Mao said directly: "Zhihou, you are going to enter the palace tomorrow, right?"

"Where did Mr. Zhang know?" Chen Xi asked back.

Zhang Mao smiled and said, "Zhihou, you don't have to deny it. I know a lot. I'm afraid your illness has been cured. Since you can handle government affairs, you should return to the court earlier. Don't let monsters come out to make trouble... Not to mention the court, even the Governor's Office in the Five Army is in chaos now."

Chen Xi looked at Zhang Mao and asked, "Honey, have you just come out of the Xiege Lao Mansion?"

"Um!?"

Zhang Mao thought that no one would know his whereabouts. This time, he suddenly visited Chen Mansion and made Chen Xi, the owner, feel suddenly. However, he did not expect that Chen Xi would not leave the house and knew what happened outside. He immediately smiled and said, "Haha, I knew that nothing could be hidden from the bottom of the matter... The so-called "three armies had not moved, intelligence first, Zhi Hou was the one who led the army."

It sounds like a praise, but it has a sour smell.

Chen Xidao: "I know that my husband came from Xie's mansion, but I didn't hear the news in advance, but that my husband said the same as the intention of Xie Ge Lao brought by Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice. I can only think that my husband was instructed by Xie Ge Lao and came to talk about it."

Zhang Mao was relieved and then said, "Zhihou, you misunderstood. I came here not to tell you about the personnel arrangements of the court, but to involve a party of relatives... Didn't Zhihou hear that some people have done evil in the vicinity around the capital recently, not only forcibly rob people's houses and land, but also commit adultery and robbery in broad daylight?"

Chen Xi shook his head: "I haven't entered the court for ten months now, and I have never heard of it."

Zhang Mao felt that Chen Xi’s words were very perfunctory.

In his opinion, Chen Xi must have a mysterious force in his hand, otherwise it would be impossible to bring Liu Jin down so smoothly, and information is the most important part.

In this way, in his opinion, what Chen Xi said was simply an excuse.

Zhang Mao said: "After Liu Jin was executed, Hou Ning and Hou Jianchang relied on controlling the Beijing camp, and took advantage of the unstable situation in the capital, plundered the people's wealth and forced the people's daughters. The people complained... So much, as the Minister of War, how could you ignore it?"

Chen Xi continued to shake his head: "Why don't my husband care about it and come to talk to the next junior?"

"Um?"

Zhang Mao didn't expect that he was choked back by Chen Xi. He was stunned for a while before realizing that the young man in front of him was no longer the young man who was obedient before. It was impossible for him to continue to force Chen Xi to do things with his condescending attitude.

"Zhihou, you are the Minister of War. You should take the lead in dealing with military affairs. Today, the Hou of Shouning and Hou Jianchang entered the palace to meet the Empress Dowager. With the support of Empress Dowager Zhang, what do you think the Governor's Office of the Five Army can do?"

Zhang Mao once again shirked his responsibilities, which is in line with his previous style of doing things.

No matter who is in power or causes trouble, Zhang Mao never cared about it, just waiting for the situation to happen in the end, or even after the situation subsided, he came out to get a bargain.

Anyway, no one in power will affect his status as hereditary duke.

Chen Xidao: "Since my husband came here to explain, I remember that if I can see Your Majesty tomorrow, I will mention it slightly to Your Majesty. But whether Your Majesty will punish the two uncles is another matter."

"Uh? I didn't let you..."

Zhang Mao originally wanted to say that he didn't ask your Majesty for advice, but when he thought about it, Chen Xi was clearly giving him a warning.

Didn't Chen Xi know that this matter was explained to Zhu Houzhao, and it was not effective? What did Emperor Hongzhi, who was upright and clear at the beginning, did not even deal with his two brothers-in-laws? What would the young emperor do to his two uncles? After the young emperor ascended the throne, he did a lot of evil things, which was somewhat related to the two uncles' exaggeration.

Chen Xi asked, "Don't Mr. Zhang want me to mention it to His Majesty?"

Zhang Mao put away his previous arrogance. He originally wanted to use Chen Xi as a chess piece, but now he found that every step Chen Xi took had a deep meaning, and it was very difficult for him to control the situation.

Zhang Mao said: "I went to see Yu Qiao before, because after Qiao entered the palace, he was summoned to the palace to meet the queen mother. I believe that the queen mother wanted to use Qiao's power to protect the interests of the Zhang family."

"It doesn't matter who's power..."

Chen Xi shook his head and said, "The royal relatives are often above the laws of the court. Without His Majesty's nod, no one dared to touch the Zhang family. This is why I have to report to Your Majesty the fundamental reason."

Zhang Mao nodded: "It is of course the best to let Your Majesty know, but I want to remind you here, you have to make up your mind in advance for this matter. Even if the Ministry of War does not care about it, the rest of the courts of the court should play their due role, otherwise what is the majesty of the "Da Ming Law"? Of course, it is better to take care of it. This is still within the controllable scope. If someone else does this..."

After saying a little, Zhang Mao stopped, but his intention was obvious, that was to coerce Chen Xi to do things, let Chen Xi ask the Zhang brothers to do evil things in the name of the Minister of War, and help Zhang Mao remove these two unstable factors in the Governor's Office of the Five Army.

Chen Xi nodded slightly: "Let's take a step by step. It's hard to say whether you can meet the saint tomorrow. Even if you see him, there are still problems whether your Majesty is willing to listen. And... these things are just hearsay. If your Majesty follows him and asks for evidence, I don't know where to look for it?"

After all, Chen Xi just refused to help sincerely.

What happened in the court now? Whether it was officials or royal relatives and nobles, they all hoped that Chen Xi would help mention it to Zhu Houzhao.

In Shen Xi's opinion, if it was just a personnel arrangement, even if the recommended people were all stubborn old ministers, it would be fine to help them talk. Now, letting him face the Zhang relatives head-on, or even report to the emperor, is purely a tough situation.

After all, Zhang Mao is an old fox. How could he not understand Chen Xi’s meaning?

However, he was still obsessed with it: "If you want evidence, there will always be some. Zhang's relatives do evil for a day or two. As long as the court is willing to investigate thoroughly, he will keep it safe and have nowhere to hide."

Zhang Mao’s requirements were reduced by several levels in his speech.

At first, he said that he wanted to punish the crime, but now he was just a small punishment and a big warning. Chen Xi believed that when he turned around, he would definitely want Zhu Houzhao to know. Whether to deal with it or not is just off topic.

Chen Xidao: "Try to do what you can."

One sentence that is as good as possible means that Chen Xi’s attitude is negative and will not put too much effort into dealing with the brothers of the Zhang family. Now Zhang Mao is in a worse mood.

Zhang Mao was worried and unhappy: "Zhihou, Liu Jin was killed, you should have made suggestions to Your Majesty that the time to placing the grassland could be delayed properly, or that matter would be given up, but you didn't do this. According to your wishes, you should want to continue to complete the national policy and help the Ming Dynasty eliminate external troubles... I believe you have this ability, but I want to ask here, can you achieve your goal without the support of the military?"

Chen Xi squinted his eyes and looked at Zhang Mao, feeling that the other party was threatening himself in disguise... You are willing to help now, so I will help you in the issue of sending troops to the grassland.

Chen Xi pretended to be puzzled: "I don't understand what Mr. Zhang means very much."

Zhang Mao smiled and said, "You said that after the fall of the eunuch party, this Zhang family's relative expanded its power to eliminate dissidents, and even committed crimes among the people. Don't be the vanguard of the army next year, the vanguard of the Zhang family's relatives will take responsibility. At that time, the people in the Beijing camp were completely out of your control. No matter how great your political ambitions you have, you will have nowhere to display, and you will lose your reputation for your lifetime!"

Threats become more and more obvious.

Chen Xi nodded: "There is some truth to Mr. Zhang's analysis like this, but now he doesn't know whether His Majesty is willing to continue to implement the national policy of sending troops to the grassland. There are also questions about which team to be used as the main force. How can Mr. Zhang determine that the Marquis of Shouning and Marquis of Jianchang have an impact on the Northern Expedition?"

"Let's wait and see."

Zhang Mao looked calm and felt confident that he would convince Chen Xi.

Zhang Mao thought to himself: "You Shen Zhihou is young and energetic. The achievements you have made before are enough to keep you famous in history, but you will definitely not satisfy the status quo and want to make achievements for eternity. That's why you didn't advise Your Majesty to stop implementing the national policy of flattening the grassland. As long as you still have the intention to make achievements, how can you not submit?"

Chen Xi did not discuss this issue again.

Not only was he fighting with the military, but more importantly, he was fighting with the old ministers of the court. The civil servant group had a deep-rooted influence in the court. Even if Liu Jin was in power, he could not completely bring down these people. These people would become an obstacle to his work if they existed for one day.

Chen Xi bowed and said, "I can't guarantee anything, I can only say that I can do my best."

...

...

Zhang Mao came out of Chen's mansion, and his expression was obviously relaxed than that when he came out of Xie's mansion.

He did not get the support he wanted in the Xie Mansion, and he believed that he had no threat to Xie Qian, but Chen Xi felt that he had grasped the "life gate" of Chen Xi. With his thoughts as an old and stern person, he was sure to win.

After Zhang Mao met Xia Ru, Xia Ru obviously felt the confidence on Zhang Mao's face.

Xia Ru asked, "Is this a communication with Shen Zhihou? Will he help?"

Zhang Mao smiled and did not rush to answer. Instead, he asked Xia Ru to enter the carriage with him. After the carriage started, he said: "Even if it is not ten percent, 99%... Shen Zhihou was young and he wanted to do something that others dare not think or do. It is because the achievements he has achieved at this age are rare in the ages. I am afraid that only the powerful Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty can be compared with him. Can he be willing to be a minister of the Ministry of War and do nothing?"

Xia Ru shook her head: "What does this have to do with whether Shen Zhihou is willing to help?"

"Does Xia Guobain still need to ask more? Shen Zhihou wants to flatten the grassland. This is his biggest dream and the dream of a young man. Obviously Xie Yuqiao will not support him. He needs to be recognized in the court, not simply the support of His Majesty. If he gets support from the old man in the army, wouldn't it be... like a tiger with wings?"

The smile on Zhang Mao's face became brighter and brighter. Xia Ru frowned slightly after seeing it and asked, "Honey, are you too confident? Shen Zhihou is not easy to deal with, otherwise why did Xie Yuqiao still have no choice to him?... Is such a deceitful young man, simply using his motives to surrender, is it too hasty?"

"You wait and see!"

Zhang Mao was still as confident as before and did not explain to Xia Ru anymore. He looked out the car window leisurely, as if he was thinking about the situation where Shen Xi reported Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling in front of Zhu Houzhao.

At the same time, Xie Qian was still sulking in Xie's study.

"Old man Zhang thought he was very capable, but he actually ran to Shen Zhihou's mansion for help. You thought he was cunning, but in the eyes of Shen Zhihou's little fox, there was nothing at all."

Xie Qian's angry words were not said loudly. The servant standing at the door didn't hear clearly, and he couldn't understand them. He hurriedly asked, "Master, what did you say?"

"It has nothing to do with you, step back!"

At Xie Qian's order, the servant left with his head hanging down.

Xie Qian still had anger on his face and said to himself: "What does Shen Zhihou want to do? Who can understand in the court? If he wants to be the second Liu Jin, it will be difficult to do... Then how do he want to control the emperor? With his ambitions, he will definitely not be suppressed, so how should he deal with the Zhang relatives?"

After thinking for a long time, Xie Qian still couldn't get the answer.

"Oh! I really should ask in person... But maybe even if I surrender to visit Shen's house, he would not tell the truth. This boy is very cunning and has many strange ideas... Hey, I might as well learn from him, so I might as well call him sick and not go to court to see how he deals with it? Just as Xu Shen Zhihou is sick, can't I get sick?"

Suddenly, Xie Qian came up with the strategy of "responding to changes in the world" and prepared to be sick and asked Shen Xi to guess his intentions so that he could stand in the dark and observe the situation in the court.

...
To be continued...