Chapter 923: Feigning Indifference to Gain Control, Prioritizing Loyalty

Living in the deep palace and unaware of the outside world—these eight words certainly couldn’t be applied to Zhu Zhanji. Even as the crown prince, aside from attending lectures in the palace, he often went outside to train the imperial guards. Later, he also frequently ventured outside the palace. Even after ascending the throne, he would occasionally slip out once or twice, and it was common for him to visit ministers’ residences incognito. Apart from serious figures like Yang Shiji who would earnestly advise him, nobles such as Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong, though not outright dissatisfied, would still try to persuade him indirectly. Thus, this northern inspection was still the result of his overriding everyone’s objections.

This wasn’t his first time in Kaiping. During his second northern expedition, he had set out from here with his grandfather Zhu Di and nearly encountered danger. Though it had been over twenty years ago, walking through the streets of Kaiping now, surrounded by Jinyiwei guards, he could still sense the atmosphere of those days. Back then, Zhu Di led an army of 300,000, while he had only 65,000 infantry and cavalry at his side—all elite troops, with officers who had been trained in the border regions.

Now, although Zhu Zhanji was dressed like an ordinary officer and the Jinyiwei guards disguised themselves as common soldiers, their imposing presence naturally made the ordinary soldiers assume they were some noble, so they wisely cleared a path for him. Yet while he was full of enthusiasm, Wang Jin’s forehead was constantly drenched in sweat. After all, Kaiping was not just a frontier fortress now—it also had many merchants from the Central Plains and Mongols from Tartary who came for trade. Although the entire area was on high alert due to the emperor’s northern inspection, who knew if those Mongols had left spies or assassins behind?

“Wang Jin.”
“Your… Your Highness.” Wang Jin forced himself to change the subject and then said with a pained expression, “Please show some understanding for me. If Scholar Yang and the Duke of Ying learn about this, I’ll surely be blamed to death! I dare to advise you—there’s such a vast place in the capital; you can go wherever you want. Just avoid this city—what if an arrow suddenly flies at you…”

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a whooshing sound through the air, causing his body to stiffen instantly. But once he regained his composure, he heard loud cheers coming from ahead. Noticing nothing unusual around him, he realized it must be the training ground. He quickly raised his sleeve to wipe his forehead. When he looked up, he saw Zhu Zhanji, who seemed quite interested, already walking ahead without him, so he hurriedly chased after him. Just as they were about to reach the bustling training ground, a group of people suddenly appeared from the side. Upon seeing the leader of the group, his heart, which had been in his throat, immediately dropped back to his chest.

“How is your information-gathering so fast again?”

It was obviously just a joke, but Zhang Yue still laughed upon hearing it. You see, to become someone who could foresee events, he had spent all these years focusing on this skill. As a result, he might not know what the emperor said, but he would always know where the emperor was. Seeing Zhu Zhanji still looking toward the training ground, he cleared his throat and said, “Over there, some thousand-household and hundred-household leaders are having archery competitions with their troops. It’s just for entertainment. If you really want to watch, you can choose any few people or even compete yourself. But it’s better not to go there. Look at Wang… Wang Jin’s face is completely pale.”

Zhu Zhanji turned to look at Wang Jin and indeed saw his face as pale as paper. He sighed, realizing they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the spectacle, and glared at Zhang Yue irritably. The group continued south around the corner, chatting idly. Zhu Zhanji talked about the current military strength and merchants in Kaiping, while Zhang Yue quietly explained the distribution of funds and supplies in various places. Eventually, their conversation became unrelated, and the emperor stopped in his tracks, looking at his minister with both annoyance and amusement.

“Are you trying to deceive me? How can you claim you have nothing to do with everything here? Xu Kuo has reported everything in detail, hiding nothing at all. Yet you keep covering things up, as if you’re afraid people will say you’re still like an emeritus emperor without the Ministry of War… Enough. Stop acting like that. There are no outsiders here. Are you still afraid Wang Jin and Fangling will go and tell others?”

Zhang Yue was merely pretending to be surprised. In fact, although he had not worked with Xu Kuo for long, he knew him well enough to understand that this old man reported everything in detail to his superiors, not really wanting to take credit for others’ efforts. But now that he had reached his current position, he no longer cared about credit or not. He tried to change the subject with a laugh, only to be reprimanded again. After walking a while longer, as he pondered how to bring up that topic, he heard Zhu Zhanji sneeze, and his feet slipped again. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and caught himself, with Wang Jin rushing over to help as well. All three of them managed to steady themselves.

“Your Majesty, have you caught a cold?”

In his urgency, Wang Jin forgot even to use the proper address and blurted it out. Thankfully, there was no one around at the moment, and his voice wasn’t loud enough, so no one heard him. Zhang Yue, who had been hoping for an opportunity, also showed a nervous expression upon hearing this. Under the gaze of those two pairs of eyes, Zhu Zhanji was about to speak when he sneezed several more times. He then used the tissue papers handed to him by Fang Ling one by one, but the sneezing wouldn’t stop. He even wondered if he had a cold. Yet, he didn’t want to give up such a rare chance to go out just yet, so he firmly rejected Wang Jin’s suggestion to return. After walking another half circle, he finally said he wanted to go sit with Zhang Yue and the other two.

“Well… logically, only Minister Guo and Minister Xu should go there. But this morning, someone happened to come by—my wife’s younger sister’s uncle. He has spent many years studying medicine in the grasslands, even going to Tibet alone for that purpose. Now that the weather is good for grazing, it’s actually already cold, and the city is under martial law, so I had him stay at my place. After all, he’s an outsider. You can come to my house whenever you return to the capital, but for now…”

As the saying goes, once enthusiasm sets in, nothing can stop it. Zhu Zhanji wandered most of the city today. Though he was satisfied with the orderly surroundings, it still felt rather boring. The more Zhang Yue emphasized this, the more interested he became. So he smiled and said, “Your sister-in-law’s medical skills are well-known among the imperial concubines in the capital. I wonder how many people she has treated. Although she always says that medicine alone can’t cure all diseases, she does have quite a few tricks. The massage techniques and medicinal recipes learned from Aunt Ning were passed on to the female officials, which have been very useful to my mother. Since she is his aunt, she’s not an outsider. Could anyone you take in possibly harm me? If it’s fate, then so be it. Although my mother’s health has improved greatly over the years, she still suffers occasional attacks. Let’s see if he has any good methods!”
This statement set the tone. Although Wang Jin hesitated a bit, after all, there were two accompanying ministers staying with Zhang Yue, Yang Rong lived next door, and the entire alley was filled with the imperial guards. It was safer than wandering around the streets. So not only did he not stop him, but when he saw Zhang Yue looking troubled, he even offered a few words of encouragement. Only Fang Ling, who had once been on good terms with Zhang Yue, knew that he was pretending outwardly while thinking differently. Once the emperor and the others moved ahead a few steps, he stepped closer and whispered, “What’s your plan?”
“Isn’t it just playing hard to get? If the emperor keeps wandering around the streets, won’t you be called over by Scholar Yang and the ministers here to be given a stern lecture when you return?”
The two former friends exchanged a glance, then casually looked away as if nothing had happened. One chased after the emperor, while the other turned around to direct the plain-clothed Jinyiwei guards to change formation. Fortunately, the security in Kaiping was truly impeccable. All the way to the alley where the ministers like Zhang Yue lived, everything remained calm. However, the guards at the alley entrance were extremely strict. The chief guard even checked Fang Ling’s accompanying gold plaque before allowing them through. But they were immediately startled by the dozens of plain-clothed Jinyiwei guards who gathered there and instinctively glanced back.
It seemed as if the gold plaque read “Commander of the Jinyiwei, Fang?” Could it be… the person surrounded by them was the emperor!

Although they were attendants, official documents from various departments were routed through the cabinet to the imperial court, so the ministers were actually quite busy, with many documents to handle. Thus, when they first heard that Zhang Yue had left, Guo Qin and Xu Kuo both murmured to themselves—Guo Qin sighed inwardly that, as Minister of Personnel, he had to be extremely cautious at all times, unlike Zhang Yue who seemed so carefree; Xu Kuo, on the other hand, rubbed his arms and legs, sighing that he couldn’t afford to stop working just because of his age. Since there were also several matters to discuss between the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, the two of them began to consult together. When the attendants outside reported that Zhang Yue had returned, they didn’t pay much attention and continued working as usual, until someone entered the room, at which point Xu Kuo laughed.

“You know he’s back? Thanks to your sharp eyesight—you can always find capable subordinates wherever you go. Otherwise, with your hands-off attitude, you’d never be able to handle all those tasks! Where did you go? Outside Kaiping, there’s only grassland, and inside, either houses or shops—what’s there to see… Huh?” As he spoke, Xu Kuo turned his head and finally saw Zhu Zhanji looking around nervously. His expression immediately became extremely strange, and he glared fiercely at Zhang Yue before pulling up Guo Qin, who was nearsighted and had his head almost buried in documents, and urged him to stand up. “Your Majesty, I didn’t know you had arrived…”

Guo Qin truly didn’t know the emperor had come; after all, he was nearsighted. It wasn’t until Xu Kuo said those words that he realized what had happened, and he hurriedly bowed repeatedly. Seeing their reaction, Zhu Zhanji waved his hand and smiled, saying, “Get up. This isn’t the palace or outside—I just felt like checking in on what you’re doing. You two ministers are indeed diligent, still working at this hour. After all, Zhang Yue is still young; he just left you behind and went out to stroll.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Zhang Yue, only to see no trace of guilt on his face, but rather a faint smile. After a moment’s thought, he realized that even he, the emperor, had gone out to stroll, which made him angry. Meanwhile, Guo Qin and Xu Kuo, not realizing the emperor was just joking, hurriedly praised Zhang Yue back and forth. So, Zhu Zhanji gave in and stopped pursuing the matter, offering words of comfort to the two hardworking ministers before taking Zhang Yue away.

Once the emperor left, the two ministers exchanged glances and sighed in relief. Guo Qin even muttered softly, “Everyone says the emperor respects Grand Secretary Yang the most and is closest to Minister Zhang the most. It seems true after all.”

When they arrived at Zhang Yue’s house, recalling what had happened inside, Zhu Zhanji couldn’t help but point at Zhang Yue and say, “You know well who to associate with. Guo Qin is a kind-hearted man, and Xu Kuo is an honest old man. These two good people were sold out by you yet still spoke well of you, as if I would really pursue you for it… You’re quite good at pretending! Where’s Old Master Zhong?”
Zhang Yue knew that Feng Yuanming, having once been a court physician, didn’t like to get too close to the powerful, and after the incident with the Prince of Han, he had been greatly frightened. So he said in a low voice, “He’s mixing medicine in the back. He has a peculiar temper and dislikes meeting officials. He only showed me some courtesy because of Xiao Wu. It’s better if the Emperor doesn’t meet him. If he finds out you’re the Emperor, he might leave right away.”
“Since nothing has been disturbed outside, just say I’m… your peer. Can he possibly judge my writing?”
Since Zhu Zhanji had said this, Zhang Yue knew the matter was almost settled. After hesitating for a moment, he got up and led the way. Going out through the back passage, they heard the sound of a pestle grinding medicine in the courtyard. Seeing Feng Yuanming’s white-haired figure sitting with his back to them, Zhang Yue glanced at Zhu Zhanji, seeing that he wasn’t aware of anything, and grew even more confident.
“Old Master Zhong,” Zhang Yue said, seeing that Feng Yuanming still hadn’t turned around. He stepped forward and spoke softly, “This is one of my peers and also a colleague of mine…”
“I’m not in officialdom. Why should I meet your colleague or peer?”
Stumped by this reply, and seeing that Zhu Zhanji wasn’t displeased at all, Zhang Yue cleared his throat and said, “The weather here in Kaiping is different from that in the capital. He caught a chill, and he’s been coughing and sneezing nonstop on the streets today. Since he has so much to deal with in the future, and Old Master is a renowned doctor who can cure illnesses with medicine, I thought of bringing him here for you to take a look.”
At this explanation, Zhu Zhanji was momentarily speechless. But seeing Zhang Yue waving his hand and giving him eye signals, he thought it was just taking a pulse, so there was no harm in it. Thus, he didn’t object and slowly walked forward to sit on the small stool Zhang Yue had prepared. Seeing the old man’s white hair and beard and his serene appearance, he realized this must be Xiao Wu’s uncle, surely more skilled than those in the Imperial Medical Academy. So, seeing his experienced methods, he became even more at ease.

Zhang Yue watched Feng Yuanming focus intently on taking the pulse and remembered that it was he who had first mentioned the family medical history of the emperor’s maternal line to Feng Yuanming, giving him numerous instructions on what to say. He still felt somewhat uneasy. After all, this old man was extremely stubborn, and he hoped he wouldn’t say anything too frightening. Although his temper had improved over time and there were fewer instances of using the Jinyiwei’s prison, he was still the emperor—after all, not an ordinary man who would listen to shocking words. After a long while, Feng Yuanming finally lowered his hand and said calmly, “I haven’t detected any signs of wind-cold. If there are slight symptoms, boiling a bowl of ginger soup will do. I’d like to ask you something else: Do you often wake up suddenly at night and then find it hard to fall back asleep? Do you feel tired while working during the day, unable to concentrate, so that you often need to find other things to do?”