I believe some readers have guessed that the next person Guo Zhiyuan is going to meet is the Crown Prince Zhu Changluo! As the crown prince, Zhu Changluo has never been favored by Emperor Wanli, so the crown prince Zhu Changluo was really miserable. He was worried all day long and worried about being deposed. It seems that the crown prince's power in the court is very weak, but this is not the case. There are still quite a few ministers in the court who support the crown prince. As the future emperor, who doesn't know that supporting the crown prince is equivalent to becoming a success in the future? In fact, the Donglin Party was able to rise later and once formed a dominant situation in the court, which was also due to them playing a key role in the issue of Zhu Changluo's succession.

Zhu Changluo was actually very clear about this, so he had always been very clever in hiding his strength, and pretending to be gentle and loyal in front of the ministers in the court. Sometimes he would even deliberately sell misery and win the sympathy of the ministers. It has to be said that Zhu Changluo was established very successfully, so that later generations even had historians discussing that if Zhu Changluo was not so short-lived (Zhu Changluo died one month after he succeeded to the throne, setting a new record for the shortest time of the emperor in the Ming Dynasty), and if he could reign for a longer period, the fate of the Ming Dynasty might have the possibility of a change.

But the author thinks that such a guess is really ridiculous. Zhu Changluo has already gradually revealed his nature after he ascended the throne. The reason why he lived a short life was because he was too eager to succeed. If he did not die, then the possibility of him becoming a foolish monarch in the end is quite high, and he is even worse than that of Chongzhen later.

Guo Zhiyuan was actually very reluctant to find the prince. In the Demon Book case, he actually used the prince. After a long time, the prince would definitely come back to his senses. Moreover, Guo Zhiyuan knew that the prince was the mastermind behind the Demon Book case, which was equivalent to burying a thorn in the prince's heart. The prince even Zhao Shizhen wanted to kill him to silence him. At this time, Guo Zhiyuan took the initiative to see the prince, which was really a bit like sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth!

But Guo Zhiyuan had to go. Apart from the prince, he really couldn't think of anyone who had such great energy to help him establish a victory during the court debate. At this time, the Zhejiang Party was the most powerful in the court. Neither the Donglin Party nor the Chu Party or other forces had the strength to compete with the Zhejiang Party at this time.

This can also be seen from the results of the upcoming "Yi Si Jingcha" incident. Jingcha was originally the imperial examination system of the imperial court for the capital city officials. It was first three years and then changed to ten years. In the 14th year of Hongzhi (15o1), it was determined to be six years. From the fourth year of Zhengde (15o9), it was stipulated that Si and Hai years were the year of investigation. Emperor Wanli was neglected to political affairs and his promotion and demotion of officials was inevitably influenced by the remarks of court officials. Therefore, at this time, Jingcha gradually evolved into a tool for various factions in the court to eliminate dissidents. In 16o5, Yi Si Jingcha was served by the Donglin Party and the Ministry of Personnel.

The head of Lang Yang Shiqiao and the Zuodu Censor Wen Chun, naturally they would not miss this good opportunity. During the inspection, they tried their best to eliminate Shen Yiguan's confidants. Qian Menggao, Zhong Zhaodou, Censor Zhang Siqu, Yu Yongqing and others were all impeached, but Shen Yiguan seized the opportunity, saying that this Beijing investigation was unfair. Yang Shiqiao and Wen Chun were suspected of taking personal revenge. In the end, the Donglin Party members suffered a severe blow after the Beijing investigation in Yisi. Yang Shiqiao, Wen Chun, Liu Yuanzhen and others all lost their posts. Although the power of the Zhejiang Party was also weakened, overall, Shen Yiguan's Zhejiang Party won the victory in this party struggle!

Therefore, Guo Zhiyuan could only seek the support of the prince, because there are people who support the prince in both the Donglin Party and the Chu Party. As long as the prince can support him, these people will change their positions and he will have a chance of winning.

Of course, it is not easy to convince the prince to support him. This time, unlike the demon book case, Guo Zhiyuan actually seized the prince's handle, forcing the prince to stand up and cooperate with him. But Guo Zhiyuan knew that the prince had actually had murderous intentions towards him, so how could he support him again?

Moreover, it is not easy for Guo Zhiyuan to see the crown prince. It has always been a taboo for the crown prince to make friends with court officials. The emperor does not want him to be deposed by the crown prince and court officials before he abdicated. What's more, Emperor Wanli has never liked Zhu Changluo. If Zhu Changluo frequently interacts with ministers in the court at this time, wouldn't he be seeking death?

Fortunately, Guo Zhiyuan's intelligence network in the capital has been spread out, especially Guo Zhiyuan attaches great importance to showing his own spies in the palace, so that Shen Yuniang can spare money to buy eunuchs in the palace to provide information. Of course, he dare not buy eunuchs for fear of exposing his ambitions. Only those little eunuchs who have the opportunity to go out of the palace to buy are the targets of Guo Zhiyuan's bribery. These little eunuchs cannot do big things, but it is still easy to pass messages to the palace and pass small things.

When Guo Zhiyuan left the capital to take office in Fujian, the prince had someone give him a thousand taels of silver to win over Guo Zhiyuan. Therefore, Guo Zhiyuan used this reason to let a young eunuch who had the opportunity to enter and exit the Prince Ciqing Palace bring 10,000 taels of silver and his prayer to the prince. The prince wanted to show his power, so he naturally needed silver, so he believed that the prince would definitely accept the ten thousand taels of silver, and naturally felt embarrassed to see him after receiving the silver bill.

Sure enough, not long after Guo Zhiyuan asked Shen Yuniang to ask the little eunuch to hand over the silver notes and prayers into Tai**, the prince sent someone to pick up Guo Zhiyuan. The one who came to pick up Guo Zhiyuan was the little eunuch who took Guo Zhiyuan to Ciqing Palace in the Demon Book case. Guo Zhiyuan knew what kind of virtue this guy was, and before he could make a few silver notes, the little eunuch saw that Guo Zhiyuan was so good at doing things, he stopped making a fuss and said, "Come on, we are also acquaintances. Lord Guo, let's go with the miscellaneous family!"

He came to Ciqing Palace smoothly. It was daytime, but Guo Zhiyuan stood at the gate of Ciqing Palace and felt a little squinting. His hair was standing on his back. But he had no way out at this time, so he had to step in and walk in. Seeing that the prince was still in the side hall where he saw him last time, but this time the prince did not play chess anymore. He was holding the 10,000 taels of silver notes that Guo Zhiyuan gave him, gently patting the table, as if thinking about something. Even Guo Zhiyuan did not appear when he came in.

Seeing Zhu Changluo's appearance, Guo Zhiyuan felt more and more anxious. He gritted his teeth and walked forward and saluted, "I have seen Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhu Changluo raised his eyelids and saw Guo Zhiyuan bowing slightly to salute him, instead of kneeling down like ordinary ministers who saw him, his eyes flashed with a cold light, and he raised the silver notes in his hand and said coldly: "Guo Zhiyuan, you are so generous. You only take ten thousand taels of silver. It seems that I underestimate you. You are very comfortable as an official in Fujian. Have you made a lot of money?..."
Chapter completed!