Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2351: Lucky Nanjing (XVIII) Your Deception

"It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early." Zhu Yijun pointed at the hourglass and said with a smile: "Rixin, please have lunch with me."

Gao Fusi was slightly startled, then smiled and said, "I obey your order."

The reason why Zhu Yijun suddenly decided to keep Gao Youshi to have lunch together was, firstly, because the emperor and his subject had been friends for many years and had a deep relationship with each other, and it was not the first or second time that he had asked Gao Youshi to have lunch with him; secondly, he also wanted to deliberately waste time on Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong. After all, although the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty could not be considered a waste of time when eating, he usually had more time.

He knew very well that Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong must still be hungry at this moment, and Gao Youshi was summoned to discuss the affairs of the Western Regions first, and the two nobles would definitely know this news. If Gao Youshi left immediately after discussing the affairs of the Western Regions, they might still have illusions and think that the emperor just wanted to give them a warning, not really punish them severely.

But if Gao Youshi was left to accompany the emperor for dinner after finishing his business, they would realize that the emperor was deliberately leaving them out, which would undoubtedly cause them greater psychological pressure.

Zhu Yijun wanted to make them feel scared and terrified. Only in this way would they be more obedient and would not dare to have any thoughts that went against the emperor's will.

"Serve the meal." Zhu Yijun gave a light order, and a palace servant immediately went to arrange it.

Soon, the imperial kitchen brought lunch. Zhu Yijun's lunch was indeed not luxurious, not to mention compared with the famous old witch of the Tartar Qing Dynasty. Even if compared with the Tang and Song dynasties, the Ming Dynasty emperors also ate this food in a simple way. Fortunately, although Gao Fusi usually eats exquisitely, he is not greedy. These six dishes and one soup are very suitable for him, with a combination of meat and vegetables and balanced nutrition.

The emperor's invitation to Gao Youshi to dine was not equivalent to a "granted banquet", and there were far fewer rules. However, even so, as a minister, Gao Youshi was not qualified to sit on an equal footing with the emperor, so he just sat below Zhu Yijun, with the same six dishes and one soup in front of him. But there were still differences, for example, the emperor's tableware clearly had a gold-painted dragon pattern, while Gao Youshi's bowls, plates, and cups were all painted with flowers and birds.

"Rixin, I know you love fish. Now that you are in Jiangnan, how can you not try the Taihu whitebait?" Zhu Yijun pointed to a dish in front of him and said, "I only ate it for the first time when I visited Houhu yesterday. It really tastes different. Although you are the richest man in the world, this is your first time in Jiangnan. And this Taihu whitebait must be eaten as soon as it comes out of the water. You can't eat it in the capital..."

"Yes, I will obey your order." Gao Youshi was not polite and immediately picked up his chopsticks, picked up two or three small silver fish, tasted them, and praised: "It is indeed fresh and tender. Your Majesty is in great luck."

Zhu Yijun smiled slightly and said, "I'm glad you like it. I'll let you know later that in the future, whenever I eat something, I'll make an extra portion for you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Gao Youshi hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

The emperor and his ministers chatted about state affairs while dining, and the atmosphere was very harmonious. Zhu Yijun wanted to drink wine in the middle of the meal, but was dissuaded by Gao Youshi. Zhu Yijun smiled and gave up, which shows how much he valued Gao Youshi.

At this time, Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong had been waiting outside the Qianqing Palace for a while. Although they were starving, they had no appetite at all. They just sat in the ear room in front of the palace and stared at each other.

"Chengshanbo, you are a senior in the court, can you give me some advice... What does the emperor mean by this?" Xu Hongji couldn't help asking, "He has summoned Duke Jingguo to discuss the changes in the Western Regions for a long time, and now he has asked Duke Jingguo to stay to have dinner with him, but left us here in the cold. What is the rule?"

Wang Yunzhong smiled bitterly and said, "My Lord, isn't the emperor's meaning obvious? He is warning us."

Xu Hongji frowned and said, "But the emperor summoned the two of us here alone to question us, instead of asking the East Factory and the Imperial Guard to enforce the law. Isn't this the emperor's attempt to make a big deal out of a small matter?"

Wang Yunzhong sighed and said, "It's meaningless to guess what the emperor is thinking. But one thing is certain, that is, the emperor is very dissatisfied with us. Otherwise, he would not have just visited the Xiaoling Mausoleum with you a few days ago, and today he would leave you here to wait for him and Jingguo Gong to have a meal, don't you agree?"

Xu Hongji panicked and asked hurriedly, "Cheng Shanbo is right. But now that things have come to this, what should we do now?"

Wang Yunzhong shook his head and said, "What else can we do? Now we can only put our hopes on Duke Jingguo... After all, he promised us that he would support us at the critical moment."

Xu Hongji said worriedly, "That being said, we have always kept our distance from Duke Jingguo. Although Duke Jingguo said he would protect us, who knows how strong this hand will be? What if Duke Jingguo thinks that as long as we save our heads, what should we do?"

Wang Yunzhong was not as pessimistic as him, and comforted him: "The Duke has lived in Nanjing for generations, and is not familiar with the Duke of Jingguo. It is not surprising that he is worried. However, I did have some dealings with the Duke of Jingguo when I was in the capital. According to my experience, the Duke of Jingguo is not easy to express his views, and once he expresses his views, he will not regret it.

Let me be frank, he would never say that he would protect us but in fact only save us from losing our heads... Besides, although this matter is serious, we two are nobles after all, especially you, the Duke. You are the descendant of the King of Zhongshan. No matter how serious this matter is, it is far from treason. How could I possibly lose my head?

Since this is not a crime that will cost us our heads, if Duke Jingguo's 'protection' only saves our heads, wouldn't that be a loss of face for him?"

Xu Hongji felt that this made sense and felt relieved. He nodded and said, "Cheng Shanbo is right. Even for the sake of his own face, Duke Jingguo should try his best to protect us."

Wang Yunzhong reminded him: "My Lord, we may not encounter a disaster this time, but we will owe you a huge favor from now on. In the future..."

Xu Hongji smiled bitterly and said, "There is no need for Cheng Shanbo to remind me of this. Before I left the mansion and entered the palace just now, the masters in the mansion stopped me and gave me many instructions, all of which were about the same principle."

The two looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes. They knew that from now on, there was one more person above them that they must not offend.

There is not much morality in the officialdom. As long as the benefits are sufficient, no one will not betray. But there is a premise, that is, the other party has no ability to retaliate against you. If you owe a favor to someone like Gao Youshi, then there is nothing you can do. It is impossible to pretend that nothing happened... because he really has the ability to retaliate against you, and you will definitely not be able to withstand his revenge.

The "Duke of Wei" was certainly powerful, after all, he was a descendant of Xu Da. Even though he supported Zhu Yunwen in the Jingnan Campaign, he failed to wipe out the line of the Duke of Wei [of course, this had a lot to do with Empress Xu]. Instead, the Xu family even had the line of the Duke of Ding.

However, if Gao Youshi wanted to take revenge, he didn't necessarily have to cut off the Duke of Wei's noble family - just get rid of Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei has many bloodlines! With Gao Youshi's current authority and favor, he could overturn the case at any time if he wanted to, without changing the title but only the person! But they had no room for resistance.

This is the power of authority. In the face of absolute power, any resistance is futile. Therefore, if I owe this favor today, I may never be able to repay it in my lifetime.

Both of them were nobles and high-ranking officials, but when faced with Gao Youshi, the prime minister of the dynasty, they did not even have the courage to resist.

The two of them were speechless and fell into silence. They knew that from now on, they could only follow Gao Youshi's lead and never dare to disobey Gao Youshi again. As for the Jinghua forces entering Jiangnan, they could only force themselves to smile and try to get some leftovers from this powerful dragon.

At this time, Gao Youshi was still dining with the emperor. He knew the emperor's intention very well, but he did not point it out. Some things can only be understood, not expressed in words.

He believed that after this incident, the nobles in Nanjing should be able to realize who is the real master of the court and who is the one holding power on behalf of this master.

"Xu Hongji, Duke of Xuanwei, and Wang Yunzhong, Earl of Chengshan, came to see you—"

Following the eunuch's shout, Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong hurried into the Qianqing Palace. Although they were already hungry, they could only force themselves to eat. "Your Highness, I, Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji (Chengshan Earl, Wang Yunzhong), pay my respects to His Majesty. Long live the Emperor."

"Please stand up, both of you." Zhu Yijun sat upright in the main seat, his voice was unremarkable, he said calmly: "My dear ministers, I summoned you here for what, I'm sure you know."

Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong looked at each other, and then Xu Hongji said with a stiff face: "Your Majesty, we are indeed guilty of negligence, but our loyalty to Your Majesty is evident to all."

"Oh? Loyal?" Zhu Yijun sneered: "If you are really loyal, you should report the problem immediately when you find it, instead of waiting until the truth is revealed before confessing to me."

Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong's faces turned very ugly. They knew that the emperor was warning them. But since things had come to this point, they could only bite the bullet and continue to explain.

"Your Majesty, we are indeed guilty, but we were also deceived." Wang Yunzhong said quickly: "Although we were in charge of supervising the repair of the imperial palace, the specific matters were handled by Wang Lingyu and others in the Nanjing Ministry of Works. We were not careful at the time and were deceived by them."

"Really?" Zhu Yijun sneered, "Then why did I hear that you got a lot of benefits from it?"

As soon as these words came out, Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong's faces turned very ugly. They didn't know what Gao Youshi had said to the emperor before, but they also knew that the emperor was forcing them to express their opinions. If they couldn't give a satisfactory answer, then they would probably be severely punished.

"Your Majesty, we did receive some gifts from them afterwards, but we thought at the time that it was just an ordinary thank you... We were confused for a moment, who knew they were so bold as to dare to make false reports and conceal the truth, and pass off inferior goods as good ones." After all, Xu Hongji lacked experience in officialdom, and was almost deceived by Zhu Yijun into telling everything.

Wang Yunzhong, the Earl of Chengshan, was a member of the Jingnan clique. He had been in Beijing's officialdom before he came to Nanjing to serve as a garrison minister. He obviously knew Zhu Yijun better and knew that Zhu Yijun would not care about Xu Hongji's words. Therefore, he quickly said, "Your Highness, we just learned about this and we are shocked and have quickly submitted a petition to confess our crimes...Your Majesty, we are willing to hand over all the illegal gains. We only hope that Your Majesty can forgive our unintentional mistake this time."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yijun did not continue to attack, but glanced at Gao Youshi and winked at him. However, after the emperor made this move, he continued to ask: "Forgive?"

After a pause, Zhu Yijun sneered and said, "Do you know how much money it will cost to renovate the palace because of your negligence?"

Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong's faces turned very ugly. They had heard something was very wrong. The emperor was forcing them to give a more satisfactory answer... maybe he wanted them to bear the cost of resuming construction and repairing the Nanjing Palace.

"Your Majesty, we know our crimes and are willing to accept any punishment." Wang Yunzhong said stiffly, "But we are loyal to Your Majesty and have no second thoughts."

"Loyal?" Zhu Yijun sneered, "I have seen your loyalty. But I want to know more, this palace project has been left in such a mess by you, will it collapse while I am living there?"

This is pure extortion. No matter how many tricks there are in this project, they dare not guarantee the safety of the place where the emperor is going to live. That would be risking their own heads... No, they would be taking the nine clans seriously.

Zhu Yijun had read Gao Youshi's report and knew that most of the places where these people made changes were those palaces that the emperor was unlikely to visit often, and they were quite clever. Generally, they looked good, but their "shelf life" was not good. Gao Youshi even sighed at the time and said that these people were "good at fooling people."

Zhu Yijun himself immediately figured out the reason, which was not complicated: everyone knew that the emperor came to Nanjing mainly to make a political statement and could not stay in Nanjing for a long time. In this case, the Nanjing Palace only needed to look good for a year. After the emperor left, even if the Nanjing Palace collapsed, they could find ten thousand reasons to explain that it was a natural disaster.

Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong's faces turned very ugly. They felt that the emperor would not stop until he had ripped off a layer of skin from them. However, things had come to this point and they had no other choice.

"Your Majesty..." Xu Hongji gritted his teeth and was about to express his willingness to invest, but unexpectedly Gao Youshi suddenly laughed.

When he smiled, the other three people in the field looked at him.

"Why is the Prime Minister laughing?" Zhu Yijun asked in surprise. As for Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong, they were uneasy, not knowing whether Gao Youshi was going to help them or add insult to injury.

Gao Shishi said: "Your Majesty, if we want to talk about who is the principal offender in this renovation case, I don't think Duke Wei and his men can be considered as the principal offenders. They can't even be considered accomplices."

"Oh?" Zhu Yijun frowned and pondered, "Why do you think so?"

Gao Youshi said: "I have already calculated that although the amount involved in this case is huge, only 41% (one quarter) of it ended up in the hands of Duke Wei, Chengshanbo and other nobles. The bulk of the money is not in their hands at all."

"Is this true?" Zhu Yijun looked quite surprised, and then began to squint his eyes and look at Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong. Unexpectedly, the two were also shocked at first, and then they kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, you heard it too. Yuanfu is really the best financial expert in the world. He found out the flow of funds so quickly."

Zhu Yijun hesitated for a moment and asked Gao Youshi: "Prime Minister, what do you think about this matter..."

Gao Wushi said calmly, "Although we have a general understanding of the flow of funds, it is said that the specific people involved in the case have not yet been fully identified. I think that since Duke Wei and Cheng Shanbo are willing to make meritorious contributions while serving their sentences, why don't they submit this list? Isn't this what we call atonement for sins with merits?"

Without waiting for Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong to reply, Zhu Yijun immediately slapped the imperial couch and said, "That's right, since you all say you were deceived and are willing to cooperate, then I will give you a chance. I want you to go back immediately and list the names of all the people involved in the case. Don't miss a single one."

"Yes, we will obey your order." Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong agreed quickly.

"In addition, according to what you said, I want you to immediately turn over all the illegal gains to the treasury." Zhu Yijun continued: "I will let the East Factory investigate. If it is found that you have concealed something, I will not let you off easily."

"We obey your order. How dare we deceive Your Majesty?" Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong agreed again.

"Okay, you can leave now." Zhu Yijun waved his hand, indicating that they could leave.

Xu Hongji and Wang Yunzhong were as if they had been pardoned, and they quickly bowed and left. After they left, Zhu Yijun looked at Gao Youshi and shook his head and said, "Rixin, you have commanded troops for many years, you shouldn't be so soft-hearted!"

Gao Youshi smiled and said, "After all, the nobles are the pillars of the country. Since it is not a serious crime of treason, they should not be touched lightly. As for the fines and confiscations...it is not easy to touch the nobles, but there are always guilty officials who can be touched."

Zhu Yijun laughed and said, "In a matter like this, how can you gain something in return for a loss in one place?"

  Gao Fusi raised his eyebrows slightly and asked with a smile: "Why not?"
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