The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 243

As a result, a group of officials began to recommend the candidates they thought were suitable.

Even Yang Yiqing mustered his strength and recommended the person he thought was suitable.

"Your Majesty, I recommend someone who is most suitable to serve as the Governor of Southern Zhili."

Yang Shen stepped forward.

. . . . . .

In the end, Yang Yiqing and the others could no longer bear it. Although it was absurd that Yang Shen recommended Zhang Cong to serve as the governor of Nanzhili, after all, Zhang Cong had only been in office for two years and had already risen to the rank of a third-rank vice minister thanks to the emperor's promotion. Now Yang Shen was actually recommending him to be the governor of Nanzhili.

"Soaring to great heights" is an understatement to describe Zhang Cong's career path.

Even with such an absurd situation, Yang Yiqing and the others simply couldn't outlast Jiajing. After all, Jiajing was not even twenty years old yet. Let alone enduring a morning, enduring an afternoon wouldn't be a big deal for him, but they couldn't. Yang Yiqing felt that this court assembly had really taken half his life.

As for who will serve as the governor of Southern Zhili, let them decide. They only have the right to recommend candidates; the final decision rests with the emperor.

Originally, Yang Yiqing and his group did not hold an absolute advantage in the court, and they did not have much of an advantage over the officials led by Yang Shen.

Therefore, it was justifiable for the emperor to accept advice from either side.

Even though Zhang Cong's matter is really outrageous.

When Zhang Cong received the imperial appointment document while on his way back to the capital, he was completely stunned, and then overjoyed.

Sure enough, following Lord Zhou's lead all this time was absolutely the right thing to do; in fact, it could be said to be the most correct decision I ever made.

Zhang Cong was well aware that the appointment of the Governor of Southern Zhili was crucial. After all, Southern Zhili, as one of the two capitals, held a pivotal position in the entire Ming Dynasty, not to mention that Southern Zhili was currently implementing the performance evaluation system.

At the banquet at the Tang residence, Zhang Cong had heard Wang Yangming and Zhou Chu discuss this matter in detail. Zhang Cong was well aware that Lord Zhou was behind the implementation of the performance evaluation system.

Zhang Cong firmly believed that Zhou Chu had recommended him to become the governor of Southern Zhili.

Xia Yan, who was standing to the side, was dumbfounded when he saw Zhang Cong achieve a three-level leap in a short period of time, and even slightly surpass him. He never expected that Zhang Cong, who was originally not very noticeable in the Ministry of Rites, could rise so high.

In Suzhou Prefecture, Zhou Chu soon received an appointment from the imperial court, being appointed as the Grand Marshal of the entire Jiangnan Province, responsible for suppressing the rebellion.

Upon receiving the imperial appointment, Zhou Chu immediately wrote a proclamation denouncing the traitors. The proclamation, hundreds or even thousands of words long, denounced the Zhang brothers for their ingratitude and their disrespect to the court and the emperor.

The text then details the crimes committed by the Zhang brothers, focusing on their plundering of the entire Jiangnan region.

When this proclamation against the traitors was issued, the people were outraged. However, many people were also very surprised that they were unharmed during the days when the riots were at their worst, while the trouble was mainly caused by the mansions of wealthy and powerful people.

When Zhang Heling saw this proclamation against the traitors, he was somewhat dumbfounded. On the sixth day of the month, he led his men to plunder Suzhou City, which did indeed bring them a lot of money, but to say that they had plundered the entire Jiangnan region?

Are we relying on the more than 1,000 people that Brother Ma took out before?

"Brother Ma, why do they say we plundered the entire Jiangnan region?"

Zhang Heling asked, puzzled.

He didn't doubt Chu Liu. In his opinion, if he, as the commander-in-chief, was capable of leading more than a thousand people to seize the entire Jiangnan region, why would he need to play along with him here?

"What you may not know is that many people took advantage of the chaos and looted under our banner."

I had prepared my explanation well in advance on the sixth day of the lunar new year.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Heling suddenly understood, and everything made sense now.

"Since the court treats me this way, then we will send troops to Suzhou tomorrow, take Suzhou, and teach the emperor a lesson."

Zhang Heling said with a face full of indignation.

Inside Suzhou, Zhou Chu deployed nearly a hundred linked cannons on the city walls. In addition to the linked cannons, the red-coated cannons in the military camp were also brought in.

Since we're going to fight, let's fight it out and make a big show of it. Although Zhou Chu can quickly behead Chu Liu and the others, that would be all bark and no bite and wouldn't be enough to deter these gentry from Jiangnan.

In this battle, Zhou Chu must fully demonstrate the power of the imperial court and the might of the Ming Dynasty!