Chapter 164 Meeting the Saint
In order to reach the capital as soon as possible, Zuo Lengchan and Feng Buping rushed to the dock and took a boat down the river to Yingtian Prefecture.

If you are not in a hurry, it is more comfortable to take a boat along the Grand Canal.

But both of them knew that time was tight, so they chose to have three horses each, resting only four hours a day and using the rest of the time to travel.

It’s not that they don’t want to continue to compress time. Zuo Lengchan is one of the few top masters in the world. He can endure this kind of running around. The key is that Ma and Feng Buping can’t stand it.

Like the White-browed Eagle King who killed eight horses in one breath, the Left Alliance Leader could certainly do it, but if he did that, Feng Buping would also die.
What made Zuo Lengchan even more speechless was that Ou Zanghua had originally arranged for Feng Buping to work with him in order to deal with the possible messenger from Li An. As a result, he was almost reaching the capital, but he didn't meet anyone who was on the same journey as him.

He did not doubt that Ou Zanghua's guess was wrong, he just thought that Li An's messenger might have taken another route.

No matter what, he needed to complete the task of delivering the memorial as soon as possible.

The Ming Dynasty's Tongzhengshisi was in charge of receiving and rejecting memorials from both inside and outside the country. Whenever there were petitions and suggestions, appeals for grievances, or reports of illegalities from all over the country, the reasons for the petition would be copied into the register and submitted to the emperor.

Zuo Lengchan found an inn, changed into clean clothes, and tidied his appearance before heading to the Tongzhengshisi.

He knew very well that as a captain, even if he wrote a memorial, it would not attract any attention.

So after entering the gate, he bowed to a Tongzhengshishi official and said solemnly: "Mr. Ou Zanghua, the Minister of Honglu Temple, the Editor of Hanlin Academy, and the Deputy Censor of Jiangxi, has an urgent report to the court!"

The governor had not taken Zuo Lengchan seriously at first, but when he heard that it was an urgent report from a fourth-rank official, he immediately said, "Sir, wait a moment!"

He took the memorial, turned around and entered the lobby.

According to convention, the Left and Right Councillors should be the ones to accept memorials from all parties.

But for Ou Zanghua, the left and right councilors are useless because they are only fifth-rank officials.

In addition, it was an urgent report, so the governor did not dare to be careless and sent it to the Minister of Public Administration, Wang Xian.

This gentleman was a Jinshi in the third year of Hongzhi, and served as magistrate of Fuping and Huaxian counties, and was later promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief.

In the early years of Zhengde, Wang Xian flatly refused Liu Jin's attempt to win him over, thus offending the eunuch party.

But Wang Xian was different from other ministers. He was proficient in military affairs and was deeply loved by Emperor Zhengde. Therefore, even if he was targeted, Liu Jin could not get rid of him and could only transfer him to the post of Governor of Liaodong.

But in Liaodong, that shitty place, all you have to watch are the Jurchens baring their teeth and the Mongols herding sheep, and these foreign races would spawn again the next year after you kill them.

Only capable people like Wang Xian can live comfortably there. If someone has a softer personality, they will suffer.

After several years, Liu Jin finally fell from power and Wang Xian returned to the capital.

Therefore, when Wang Xian saw Ou Zanghua's sharp impeachment of the Jiangxi garrison eunuch Li An, his first reaction was that this young man had the style he had in his past!

He smiled, looked up at the governor, and said gently: "You did a good job. Go out and tell the people who came that I will personally present this memorial to the emperor at the morning court tomorrow."

"Yes!" The governor was delighted. He responded and went out, and conveyed the news to Zuo Lengchan.

"That's good, thank you sir!"

Zuo Lengchan immediately breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to thank the governor.

It was already noon when he came out of the Ministry of Public Administration. He didn't even have time to eat lunch and rushed directly to Zhang's house in Dongzhimen.

After some notification, I was allowed to enter.

The person who received Zuo Lengchan was a man with a feminine face. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and said, "Lord Ou, you are a junior minister, but you still remember this little place of mine. I am really surprised."

"Lord Ou asked me to bring the memorial here, which is enough to prove Lord Ou's respect for you." Zuo Lengchan thought for a while before speaking.

He knew that the capital was a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers were everywhere, but he didn't expect to meet a master so easily.

If a fight were to break out, it might take me ten moves to defeat the man in front of me!

"That's not wrong." The man smiled and said, "In order to confirm your identity, I have to take a look at this memorial. But you don't have to feel burdened. As a swordsman of the Imperial Guard, I have the duty to examine things that come close to Your Majesty."

Zuo Lengchan thought about it and since Junior Brother Ou had not specifically told him not to show it to others, he said, “Please do as you please, sir.”

The man opened the memorial and glanced at it for just a few seconds before closing it abruptly. He looked up at Zuo Lengchan and asked, "Apart from this memorial, is there anything else?"

"have,"

Zuo Lengchan nodded, his momentum not losing at all: "But it has been handed over to the Tongzhengshi Wang. Wang has said that he will present it in the palace tomorrow."

The man was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Haha. You are worthy of being called Lord Ou! You always have to be prepared for everything. You have caused me great harm. Remember to tell Lord Ou that he owes me a favor. Come with me!"

Having said that, he stood up and walked out. A carriage was already waiting at the door.

The two men got into the car, and the man warned: "Remember, I have not read this memorial and I don't know its content. You came to my house only on behalf of Lord Ou, and I beg you to take you to see Mr. Zhu." Zuo Lengchan was a little confused. Who was the Mr. Zhu that this man was talking about?
However, seeing that even the Shangzhi guards were so cautious when carrying swords, he must be a very powerful person.

The carriage rumbled along for nearly half an hour before arriving at the other side of the capital.

After arriving at the destination, Zuo Lengchan looked around. This place should not be the imperial palace, because most of the people coming and going were soldiers, and there were few civil servants.
The two stood in the sun and waited for nearly two hours before they were allowed to enter.

Then they searched my body layer by layer, even the base of my tongue and throat were checked.

After confirming that there were no dangerous items, the two men walked inside under the guidance of a eunuch.

At this point, even if Zuo Lengchan was slow to react, he could guess who he was going to meet next!
He was so excited that he was at a loss and almost stepped on the man's heels while walking behind him.

The man looked back at Zuo Lengchan speechlessly, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Follow me later."

"Yes!" Zuo Lengchan responded quickly.

The eunuch brought them to the racecourse, asked the two to wait outside, and went inside to pass on the message.

Zuo Lengchan could not help but glance at the guards standing on both sides of the racecourse. These people were tall and mighty, holding ten-foot-long spears in their hands and wearing swords on their waists. They had sharp eyes and bulging temples. It was obvious at a glance that they were masters.

"Are these the masters of the Imperial Palace that were rumored?" He suddenly felt the urge to fight these masters.

The man noticed that Zuo Lengchan's breathing had become heavy, and immediately warned him in a low voice: "Put away your thoughts, this is the Leopard House, if you dare to move, the archers in the dark will shoot you into a hedgehog!"

"Don't worry, Sir Hu. I won't." Zuo Lengchan slowly exhaled and said in a calm tone.

After a while, a eunuch came out and ordered the two men to enter the racecourse.

At this moment, Emperor Zhengde was sitting on a chair, emitting heat all over his body, and two palace maids behind him were removing the cotton armor from under him.

"I am Zhang Huan, your humble servant, and I pay my respects to Your Majesty!" Zhang Huan knelt down and kowtowed at a distance of about thirty or four feet, saying loudly.

Zuo Lengchan followed suit, kneeling and kowtowed, saying, "I am Gong Zuo Lengchan, paying my respects to Your Majesty!"

Compared to Zhang Huan, whose movements were natural and voice was high-pitched, Zuo Lengchan was obviously much stiffer.

This is the emperor!

Zuo Lengchan had been in the underworld for decades, and never thought that he would meet a living emperor one day.
Of course, the dead are even less visible.

What is an emperor?
It's the emperor!
He is the Lord of the World!
When Guanyin Bodhisattva met Emperor Taizong of Tang, she had to change her name to Guanyin Bodhisattva. When Chang'e met Emperor Wen of Han, she had to change her name to Chang'e even though the pronunciation was the same.

The worst one was the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Lord. The good-looking God of Xuanwu had to be renamed the Great Emperor Zhenwu in order to avoid the name Zhao Xuanlang, the Emperor Shengzu of Song, who was fabricated by Emperor Zhenzong of Song.

The most unfortunate one was Dioscorea, because it had the same pronunciation as the name of Li Yu, the Emperor Daizong of Tang Dynasty, so it was changed to "Shu Yao".

In the Song Dynasty, because the name of Song Yingzong was Zhao Shu, he was forced to change his name again to "Shan Yao".

In feudal dynasties, no matter you were a god or a plant, you had to give in before the emperor.

This is the supreme emperor on earth, who possesses unlimited power.

"When the emperor is angry, millions of corpses will be scattered" has never been a metaphor but a reality for the emperors of the unified dynasties.

It was rare for Zuo Lengchan to be able to speak a complete sentence in front of a big shot of this level.

"No courtesy, stay on your own."

Emperor Zhengde drank some water, looked at Zuo Lengchan, and said, "You are Zuo Lengchan who followed Ou Qing to attack the Hualin thieves at night! You have profound internal skills, but you are a little old."

“Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty!” Zuo Lengchan didn’t know how to respond, so he just thanked him dryly.

Emperor Zhengde didn't care. He had seen many officials who were not good at speaking. Only a few dared to bargain like Ou Qing. The last person who did this was Yu Qian.
Therefore, he did not embarrass Lao Zuo, but asked directly: "Where is the secret report that Ou Qing asked you to bring?"

"Here!" Zuo Lengchan quickly took out the memorial and was about to hand it over when he was stopped by Zhang Huan.

Zuo Lengchan was stunned for a moment, then noticed an eunuch who looked 40% like Zhang Huan walking over.

He immediately raised the memorial with both hands, and the other party took it away and presented it to the emperor.

Emperor Zhengde took it, opened it and began to read it. He frowned slightly, and after a moment he asked coldly: "What kind of slave did I raise? She doesn't know how to share your worries, but instead brings trouble to the people. She deserves to be killed!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone present knelt down and said in unison: "Your Majesty, please calm down."

(End of this chapter)