Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1388 Interrogation
That night, a scene similar to that at the Marquisate of Ji'an was played out in more than a dozen marquisate residences in the capital.

The only difference is Li Taishi's Korean Mansion...

The process in the first half was similar. The Jinyiwei rushed into the back house of the Hanguo Mansion and were stopped by Li Shanchang's nephews.

However, the prince consort was not there, so it was Li Zuo, the second son of Li Shanchang, who stepped forward. He looked coldly at Mao Xiang, who was leading the team, and said:
"My father is the Grand Tutor of the Ming Dynasty, the First Duke, and the head of the nobles. I'm afraid that the Sixth Prince's handwritten order alone is not enough. Commander Mao should ask for the imperial edict first."

"Who said we are here to arrest your father?" Mao Xiang, backed by Lao Liu, was particularly bold and confident. He sneered at Li Zuo:

"We are here to capture the male members of his family. Aren't you the Grand Tutor and Duke of the State? You should be able to capture him with the prince's order, right?"

"This..." Li Zuo and others' faces changed drastically. They didn't expect that the other party was actually coming for them.

"Take him away!" Mao Xiang waved his hand, and the Jinyiwei raised their chains and rushed forward to arrest him.

The men of the Li family were not made of paper, so how could the sons and nephews of the dignified Duke of Korea be willing to surrender? They all waved their weapons to prevent the Jinyiwei from approaching.

At this time, Li Shanchang also appeared with a dragon-headed crutch and said in a hoarse voice, "Stop it."

Even though his prestige has been reduced to a tenth of what it was over the years, it is still enough to intimidate the youngsters in front of him.

All the nephews and nieces of the Li family and the Jinyiwei stopped what they were doing.

"Dad," Li Zuo said angrily, "They want to come to our house and take people away without any imperial order."

"Alas, don't resist." Li Shanchang said with a sad face: "The Sixth Prince's meaning is the Emperor's meaning. There is no need to humiliate yourself."

"Dad..." Li Zuo called out again in panic.

"Go ahead, Dad will find a way." Li Shan sighed and said, "I will go to see the emperor at dawn."

"Take them away!" Mao Xiang waved his hand, and the men of the Li family were chained, strung together and taken to the prison van outside.

The women in the Korean Mansion naturally did not want to leave their children and husbands, but they did not dare to step forward to stop it. They just surrounded Li Shanchang and cried and wailed.

"Oh, what shall I do, sir?"

"Wow, if anything happens to my son, I will die..."

"Is there any justice in the world? This is the capital of South Korea!"

Li Shanchang remained expressionless while the women cried and made a scene. After his sons and nephews were taken away and the Jinyiwei left, he turned around and went into the house, slamming the door.

~~
Before daybreak, all arrests were completed and the Criminal Court and the Embroidered Uniform Guards withdrew.

Zhu Zhen knew that this case was of great importance and extremely sensitive and must be handled quickly, so the interrogation began at dawn.

This time he took the field himself.

The first person brought in was Lu Zhongheng.

Without an imperial decree, naturally no one dared to torture Marquis Ji'an, but his prestige had been completely destroyed and he looked haggard, as if he had aged a lot overnight.

After coming in, Marquis Ji'an knelt down and kowtowed, paying great respect to the Sixth Old Man.

"Stand up, you are still the Marquis, you don't have to kowtow." Zhu Zhen said and ordered: "Bring a chair to the Marquis of Ji'an."

The guard placed an official hat chair behind the Marquis of Ji'an, and Lu Zhongheng thanked him before sitting upright. "I heard that my brother-in-law and his men almost had a fight with the Jinyiwei last night." Zhu Zhen started by saying it like a casual conversation.

Lu Xian was also a consort, and he married Zhu Zhen's fifth sister, Princess Runing. But the couple had a bad relationship, and Runing did not ask for help from the sixth brother like the eldest sister did.

"Yes." Lawrence Lu nodded and said, "They are all descendants of generals and brave men. Seeing others trying to arrest their fathers, how can they not resist?"

"Yeah, that makes sense." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "Fortunately you stopped it, otherwise it would have led to a tragedy, which no one wants to see."

"I was willing to come with them only after I heard that the case was in the hands of the prince." Lu Zhongheng looked at Lao Liu and said, "Otherwise, I would have planned to end my life in the house. I would rather die than be humiliated."

"Oh?" Zhu Zhen couldn't help but laugh: "Why would I be willing to come if it were me?"

"Because I know there is hope now." Lu Zhongheng replied.

Zhu Zhen frowned upon hearing this and said, "You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. It makes me seem like I'm protecting you. It seems like we don't have a good relationship, right?"

"Yes, the relationship is not good." Lawrence Lu nodded and said, "But I have long heard of the prince's reputation for fairness. What I need most now is fairness."

"How do you know that I am fair? Didn't I catch you before?" Zhu Zhen asked puzzledly.

"Yes, he did arrest me. But the prince not only arrested me, but also his own brothers, so it is the most fair!" Lu Zhongheng said as if it was a matter of course.

"Fuck..." Zhu Zhen couldn't help but swear, feeling speechless. What kind of logic is this?

I thought to myself that these military leaders really can't do anything except fighting, and the only reason they can survive in the court today is because of their status as founding heroes.

So after the warm-up, Zhu Zhen was too lazy to beat around the bush. He went straight to the point:
"I have read the confessions of all the people in your house."

"Your Highness, please don't believe them. They were tortured and forced to tell lies!" Lu Zhongheng said hurriedly, "They are just a bunch of crude soldiers. They can do whatever they want."

"I know." Zhu Zhen nodded, pushed the files of the Criminal Court aside and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore."

"Your Highness is wise." Lu Zhongheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Zhen changed the subject and said, "But when I was in the Imperial Guard, I monitored you. You even reported to me about the Land Rover you killed."

Lawrence Lu’s mouth twitched when he heard this, and he hurriedly said, “Then the prince should know that I am wronged, I have done nothing!”

"You didn't do it? You didn't have time to do it!" Zhu Zhen said coldly, "If you find it interesting, then continue to argue with me!"

"This..." Lu Zhongheng glanced at the clerk who was taking notes.

Zhu Zhen said calmly: "Don't worry, he was just pretending, he didn't write a single word."

The clerk raised his pen without even dipping it in ink.

Lu Zhongheng was relieved, and he sighed and said, "There is nothing to argue with the prince. At that time, we suffered from suspicion and suppression from the superiors. Especially after the military power was taken away, it was inevitable that people were panicked, so we gathered together to discuss countermeasures. Prime Minister Hu was the successor designated by Li Taishi, so we often gathered at his place."

He then said confidently: "When you are at a party, you drink; when you are depressed, you drink too much; when you drink too much, you will inevitably complain, and it is possible that you will even say some treasonous words, but those are just drunken words, you can't take them seriously, Your Majesty!"

"You still say you didn't argue with me!" Zhu Zhen slammed the table and said sternly, "It's the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the twelfth year of Hongwu, and you drank Laba porridge. Didn't you drink it?!"

(End of this chapter)