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

Chapter 380

Previously, the Xuanwu Army had been searching for Zhou Chu's whereabouts when they were spotted by the village chief, Zhang Laowu. Instead of making a fuss, he quietly returned to the village and told Zhou Chu about it.

Ever since being intimidated by Zhou Chu, Zhang Laowu has been living in constant fear, terrified that something might happen to this powerful figure like Zhou Chu in their village, in which case he would become a sinner in the village.

After hearing Zhang Laowu's description, Zhou Chu asked about the style of the armor worn by those people. After confirming that they were the Xuanwu Army, he had Zhang Laowu lead the Xuanwu Army to him.

Overjoyed to find Zhou Chu, the Xuanwu Army soldiers immediately sent a signal to summon all the other Xuanwu Army soldiers searching for Zhou Chu in the vicinity.

This was Yun Jin's order: once Zhou Chu's whereabouts were discovered, all nearby Xuanwu Army soldiers were to be quickly assembled and protected.

Zhou Chu immediately sent letters from the Xuanwu Army to Yun Jin, Tang Bohu, Wang Yangming, and others, and also sent an urgent letter to Jiajing.

The memorial first told Jiajing that he was not dead, but in reality, it was to ask Jiajing to conceal the fact that he was alright for the time being. Zhou Chu was currently in the shadows, wanting to thoroughly observe the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Zhou Chu had suppressed many people before, both Zhou Chu and Jiajing knew very well that these people could not be killed off completely. Every time a batch was killed, another batch would come up. The situation in the Ming Dynasty had always been turbulent, but in the past, with Zhou Chu around, these people did not dare to show their claws.

If Zhou Chu does not show up for a long time, many people will think that something has happened to him, that he has been seriously injured, or that he has died. In this way, their ambitions will naturally be exposed.

What Zhou Chu wanted was for their ambitions to be exposed. Only those whose ambitions were exposed could be dealt with. Of course, Zhou Chu was not dealing with them for the sake of dealing with them, but rather to screen them out and to select truly dedicated officials, as well as to once again intimidate the officials.

Zhou Chu knew very well that he couldn't keep the fact that he was still alive a secret for long, but he could stay in this mountain village for the time being. Firstly, it was only about a hundred miles away from the academy, which wasn't too far, and Hai Rui and the others could come here to attend classes.

Secondly, Zhou Chu could take this opportunity to let the students of the academy work on the farm with the villagers and experience the real lives of ordinary people.

Throughout history, whether it was the emperor speaking of the common people or the officials speaking of the common people, they were actually referring to the same kind of people: the literati and officials, and the landlords.

The truly ordinary people at the bottom of society have always been the bargaining chips in transactions.

For example, after the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty offered the condition that the Uyghurs could plunder Chang'an for three days in order to ask them to send troops to help quell the rebellion.

Afterwards, the Tang Dynasty felt that it was inappropriate to let the Uyghurs plunder Chang'an, since it was the capital. So they changed the terms and let them plunder Luoyang instead. The Uyghurs didn't care, since they didn't care where they plundered.

This happened more than once. Even Guo Ziyi, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, felt that there was nothing wrong with doing so and never really thought about the common people.

It's no wonder they think this way. Since ancient times, ordinary people at the bottom of society have been willing to do anything as long as they can survive. Even if they can't survive and rebel, it's difficult for them to gain any real influence.

Leaders like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, or the Yellow Turban Rebellion, appeared to be powerful, but in reality they were disorganized and had no military discipline whatsoever.

Rulers only ever need to care about the attitudes of those who pose a threat to their position; those who don't are naturally not worth their attention.

Zhou Chu wanted to make the students of these academies realize who the true people of the Ming Dynasty were—not the merchants or the gentry, but the common people, the peasants at the very bottom of the Ming Dynasty.