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

Chapter 232

Looking at the excited crowd, Cui Wenkui ultimately didn't say the words of dissuasion he had originally intended to offer.

Cui Wenkui wanted to say that Zhou Chu had always been good at using these rebellious events, such as the Japanese pirates and the four or five thousand private soldiers, which Zhou Chu had taken advantage of.

But after thinking about it, Cui Wenkui ultimately didn't say it.

He had finally managed to explain what had happened, but if he rashly spoke about Zhou Chu, these people would suspect his motives and stance. Therefore, Cui Wenkui could not say too much, for the more he said, the more mistakes he would make.

Moreover, do these people really believe that a rebellion can succeed? Just like when Prince Ning rebelled, these people also gave their full support, but no one ever really believed that Prince Ning could succeed.

The so-called rebellion was merely a way for them to seize profits. The person who rebelled could be Prince Ning or the Zhang brothers, it didn't matter who it was, as long as they weren't one of their own.

Cui Wenkui saw this clearly, and these old foxes saw it even more clearly. They didn't even need Cui Wenkui to remind them; once there was a trend of war, these people would first move most of their assets and people away, naturally not waiting for Zhou Chu to take advantage of the situation.

People like them are always cunning and resourceful, a skill many of them mastered when they served as officials in the court.

Cui Wenku chose to keep quiet precisely because he understood this principle.

He knew very well that instigating the Zhang brothers to rebel was a huge gamble for them. If they won, their Jiangnan gentry group would gain even more power and become all-powerful in the Ming Dynasty. If they lost, they would only lose a small portion of their family property and people.

For these people, let alone this small stake, they would be willing to risk their entire family's destruction if given enough benefits.

If there's enough profit to be made, these people will be blinded by greed and won't think about anything else.

Soon, Zhou Chu received this news from Chu Huizu.

When Zhou Chu learned that these people wanted to incite the Zhang brothers to rebel, he was not angry at all, but rather very happy.

Even if they didn't do it, Zhou Chu had this plan, because he needed such a big fire to quickly integrate the entire Jiangnan region.

Back when they were in the capital, Zhou Chu kept Empress Dowager Zhang around because he was afraid that the two brothers would be misled by these people and rebel, since neither the emperor nor Zhou Chu had any military power at that time.

Furthermore, since he was in the capital at the time, his control over Jiangnan was practically zero.

But things are different now. Zhou Chu holds military power, and the situation in the entire Jiangnan region is under his control. No matter what happens, Zhou Chu is confident that he can handle it.

Often, the same event can lead to drastically different, or even completely opposite, results depending on the circumstances.

It's like the same person whose personality made him successful in his youth. He believed that this personality was the root cause of his success, so he always adhered to his own principles and boasted about it to everyone he met.

But he didn't realize that his personality only worked best in a specific period and environment. After a decade or two, everything around him would change, and if he continued to act according to his principles, it would often backfire.

Many people don't understand dialectical thinking. As the saying goes, "Success and failure both depend on Xiao He." The same person and the same event can make or break a person.

When he was in the capital, Zhou Chu did not want a rebellion to break out in Jiangnan, but now it was different. After learning what the people in the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce were thinking, Zhou Chu wished he could add fuel to the fire.

“Here’s what you’re going to do: tell him that every family has to contribute people, right? We’ll contribute people too. Then he can arrange for over a hundred people to join the Zhang brothers’ rebellion.”