Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1378 Problem Children's Shelter
After Lan Yu left, the prince opened the door of the study and said to Zhu Zhen, who was chatting with Xiong Ying, "Come in and talk."

"You go study first, and your uncle will come to see you later." Zhu Zhen touched the emperor's eldest grandson's head and walked into the study.

"Isn't it time for the Emperor to appoint a crown prince?" Zhu Zhen asked softly after closing the door.

"Well, the ceremony will be held next year, and then the title will be conferred together." The prince nodded: "You must come back then."

"Let me go back first." Zhu Zhen said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "I am really scared."

"Don't worry, I'll hold up the sky even if it falls. I won't delay your return to Yunnan." The prince sighed and said, "But it seems like the sky is really about to fall..."

Zhu Zhen opened his mouth and was about to speak. But the prince waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. Let's talk about that guy. You taught him those words, right?"

"I just asked him to come and apologize to my brother before leaving." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "Our great hero, General Lan, is not the kind of person who would parrot others' words."

"How did you persuade him?" The prince said with a bitter smile, "You are really good. I have no way to deal with this piece of meat."

"We are just playing the good cop and the bad cop. My elder brother has already made him realize the seriousness of the problem. I will explain the pros and cons to him and then paint a rosy picture," Zhu Zhen said with a smile, "If he doesn't give in, he will really be a fool. Can Zhongqing and Yaoshi of this dynasty be fools? So he will definitely give in."

"What big plan are you making?" Zhu Biao asked.

"I promise that as long as he can change his behavior, I will help him change his title." Zhu Zhen replied: "And I will also help him remove the stain on the iron certificate. This is his lifeline, how can he not obey?"

"How can you help him?" the prince asked, "Don't get me wrong, my brother doesn't want you to fight. This is not your business."

"Compare it to the example of Duke Xin." Zhu Zhen replied: "I have seen the iron certificate of Duke Xin, and the stain on his record when he was originally conferred the title of Marquis of Zhongshan is no longer there."

"Use the opportunity of promotion to erase the stain?" The prince nodded and said, "His title of Duke is hereditary. As long as he accumulates enough merits, he can be promoted again, and the iron certificate will also be remade. It can be done then."

"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "The earliest it will happen is ten or eight years later. By then, the emperor will have calmed down."

"It's possible, but is it necessary?" The prince closed his eyes slightly, tapping his knees unconsciously. "Do you think he can still be saved?"

Zhu Zhen hesitated for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. People's hearts are the most difficult to figure out, but we can't afford to lose him. At least we can't let him get into trouble during the Hongwu Dynasty."

"You're right." The prince raised his eyebrows, his pupils shrank slightly, and said, "His identity is too special, his position is too important, and the most troublesome thing is that no one can replace him in a short period of time."

"The most important thing is, even if he has many faults, there is no need to doubt his loyalty to big brother." Zhu Zhen whispered.

"But you have to keep him under control." The prince said in a deep voice, "I think it would be more reassuring to leave him to you."

"Brother, you should keep him by your side. There are only a few people who are qualified and capable to take over the position of general, and he represents the largest faction."

"It is precisely because he represents the largest faction that I want to transfer him away." The prince confided to the sixth brother: "The court has finished fighting the war, and it is time to cut down the faction."

"Be careful of earthquakes, big brother." Zhu Zhen reminded him. "Don't worry, big brother can still keep things under control." The prince smiled confidently and said, "Besides, my biggest support has never been that guy, but you, Old Six. Which of the princes, civil officials and military generals of the Ming Dynasty can't you take care of? Why should I rely on him?"

"It seems that my elder brother and the old man don't intend to let me live in peace in Yunnan." Zhu Zhen smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, then we will send him to the southwest. Well, my place has become a shelter for problem children."

"After the fall of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the situation has changed. The nobles and generals have no place to use their talents. If they don't restrain themselves, something bad will happen sooner or later." Zhu Biao said seriously, "It's better to let them go and cause trouble to the barbarians, so that they won't stay in the country and harm people."

"Yes. The issue that my father has avoided for many years - how to deal with the group of noble military generals - has finally become unavoidable." Zhu Zhen nodded. This was also the reason why he opened a shelter in the southwest. He really couldn't bear to see these founding heroes and heroes who expelled the Tartars end up in disgrace.

"Now it seems that your plan to expand the border to the southwest is too far-sighted. Otherwise, where would we have room to accommodate all those arrogant soldiers and brave generals?" The prince said with emotion: "How can you see so far?"

"That's what my master said when he was not confused." Zhu Zhen said vaguely, and then said helplessly: "But isn't the old man a little too hasty? On the way here today, I saw the Jinyiwei surrounded the three alleys of Xi'an Gate and arrested many of the family members of the Marquis of Ji'an and the Marquis of Ping'an."

"I know a little about this matter." The prince smiled and said, "But you said clearly that you don't want to get involved in any other matters before leaving Beijing, so I didn't discuss it with you."

"It seems I have no say in this matter." Zhu Zhen said with a wry smile, "Today, Mao Xiang jumped on me as soon as he saw me, and he wanted to show me his underwear. I don't believe he would dare to do this without the Emperor's permission."

The prince couldn't help but laugh and said, "Haha, it seems that father is also in trouble. Whenever he encounters difficulties, he will think of our good Liu Lang."

"You never think of me when good things happen to you." Zhu Zhen pouted and said, "Tell me, what's going on?"

"This is what happened..." The prince then told Zhu Zhen everything about Toghon Temur's lawsuit against Lan Yu and the whole story of Hu Weiyong's secret letter.

"The second half of the Hu Weiyong case is about to begin?!" Zhu Zhen was so confused that he didn't even know there was such a thing. He thought it was outrageous and said:
"Would our Prime Minister Hu leave such a deadly handle? He could have asked someone to pass on a message! At least he could have denied it that way. So this letter couldn't have been forged, right?"

"The letter is not forged, it is indeed in his handwriting. I don't know what Prime Minister Hu was thinking. Maybe he didn't even think he could win at the time, so he didn't care about the consequences." The prince sighed and said, "The key is that the person who sent the letter was also found."

"Ah?" Zhu Zhen couldn't hold it in any longer: "You can find this?"

"Yes, that man's name is Feng Ji. Do you have any impression of him?" asked the prince.

"I remember that he was a surrendered minister of the Yuan Dynasty, and later became a guard of the prime minister's residence." Zhu Zhen knew the situation of Hu Weiyong's family very well. "Later, when they arrested Hu's gang, they really didn't find this person. They thought he had fled because he was afraid of the crime."

"No. After delivering the letter, he heard that Hu Weiyong was dead, so he didn't dare to come back. He stayed in the court of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and restored his Mongolian name and attire. So if Toghon Temur hadn't pointed him out, we wouldn't have recognized him at all." The prince continued:
"Father has already arrested him. He confessed everything under Sanmu, so he was arrested today."

"Good guy, Mao Xiang is still pretending in front of me, as if he just knew it." Zhu Zhen spat and thought to himself, damn, everyone has become a movie emperor.

"It seems that Mao Xiang did just find out, because the person interrogating him is Wu Yong from the Criminal Court." The prince said softly, "Let's see what they can find out first."

"Okay." Zhu Zhen nodded. It was indeed not advisable to act rashly at such a sensitive time.

(End of this chapter)