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

Chapter 263

Over the next six months, Zhou Chu continuously suppressed Japanese pirates along the southeast coast, while Yun Jin led the Tiger Army to wipe out the pirates at sea. After six months of suppression, without any interference from any forces in the court and without having to hesitate about whether or not the Japanese pirates should be completely eradicated, Zhou Chu had basically wiped out the Japanese pirates along the southeast coast.

In six months, Zhou Chu's Tiger Legion experienced dozens of battles, large and small. The largest loss was more than a dozen Tiger Legion soldiers. In other battles, the casualties were usually only three to five, or even zero.

In the past six months, at Zhou Chu's instruction, Yun Jin recruited a new army, which was large in number and its training was showing initial results. The number of treasure ships had also expanded to twenty or thirty, ten of which were given to Wang Zhi, who led the new army to Japan. Lin Zhi and dozens of the most senior members of the Xuanwu Army were also on board.

Princess Deqing and her daughter spent a month traveling in Jiangnan before returning to the capital.

In six months, under Zhou Chu's control, a major reshuffle of officials took place throughout Jiangnan. Cui Wenkui was transferred by Jiajing on some pretext, and Zhang Shunqin, the governor and deputy censor-in-chief of Jiangnan Province, was found by Zhou Chu to have colluded with Japanese pirates and was directly brought to justice.

Yan Song took over Zhang Shunqin's vacancy and became the Governor and Vice Censor-in-Chief of Jiangnan Province, a third-rank official. He was nominally the second-in-command, but in reality the top leader. The newly appointed Governor of Jiangnan Province had no say in front of Yan Song.

The fundamental situation in the entire Jiangnan region has been firmly controlled by the imperial court, and the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) offices in each county can at least ensure that these gentry will not dare to act recklessly in the short term, because the people now have a bridge to communicate with the higher authorities.

However, Zhou Chu also knew that even the best bridge would eventually rot. Zhou Chu could only try to do more before that happened. The historical cycle was hard to avoid, so he could only try to delay it as much as possible.

If he could extend the life of the Ming Dynasty by one or two hundred years and make the Ming Dynasty rich and powerful, Zhou Chu would be satisfied. He didn't ask for much else.

"It's definitely time to go back to Beijing."

Zhou Chu looked at the imperial edict in his hand summoning him back to the capital and sighed.

The journey to the capital was uncertain, but Zhou Chu wasn't too worried. Even if Jiajing didn't use him, he wouldn't kill him.

Zhou Chu originally wanted to invite Yun Jin to return to the capital together, but Yun Jin refused.

"Second brother, your journey to the capital is uncertain. With me commanding the Xuanwu Army outside, His Majesty will still have some reservations about taking action against you. But if I also return to the capital, and His Majesty turns against me, how will you retaliate?"

Zhou Chu couldn't refute Yun Jin's words. Although he had tried his best to be thorough in all aspects during his year away from the capital, in the past six months, the civil officials, led by Yang Yiqing, seemed to have found a way to stop attacking Zhou Chu. Instead, they praised him for his repeated achievements in suppressing Japanese pirates.

Yang Yiqing and others were eager to exaggerate Zhou Chu's abilities, making him the number one person in the Ming Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, even if Jiajing was broad-minded, he could not help but feel some resentment. So, seeing that Zhou Chu had successfully suppressed the Japanese pirates, he directly issued an edict ordering Zhou Chu to hand over the military power of Jiangnan Province to Yan Song and to return to the capital to report on his duties.

Of course, the Tiger Legion was still in Zhou Chu's hands. Although Jiajing harbored resentment, he was also aware that Yang Yiqing and others had ill intentions and had not been truly provoked. Moreover, two thousand Tiger Legion soldiers alone could not cause much harm, so why should he offend Zhou Chu over this?

Lu Bing had already led his army back to the capital. Now, Lu Bing had been granted the title of Marquis for pacifying Annam, but he did not receive a fief. After all, Jiajing knew exactly what had happened in the recapture of Annam.

The main reason is that the Lu family has Lu Bing and Yun Jin, and Zhou Chu has such a close relationship with the Lu family. It would be difficult for Jiajing not to be wary. If Jiajing were a pure emperor, he probably would have taken action long ago.

However, compared to those purely political figures, Jiajing valued emotions more. He couldn't bring himself to be so ruthless towards either Lu Bing or Zhou Chu, so he simply granted them both titles of nobility.