Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1390 Better to Die
In the interrogation room of the imperial prison, the clerk who was pretending to be so serious had disappeared without anyone knowing.

Only Zhu Zhen, Lu Zhongheng, and Deng Duo standing behind Lu Zhongheng were left.

After hearing what the prince said, Lawrence Lu asked, “Do I still have a choice?”

"Of course." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "You can refuse to plead guilty, but the evidence now is enough to convict you. Then we will follow the official procedures and execute your entire family for treason. Of course, my brother-in-law should be able to survive, but the rest of your family probably can't be saved."

After a pause, he added: "I told you eight years ago that treason is not within the scope of the iron certificate that exempts you from death."

"I remember..." Lu Zhongheng lowered his head and remained silent for a long time, then asked, "What about the other one?"

Zhu Zhen said, "You confess your crime, and the emperor will forgive you. Then you can leave a letter of repentance and end your life. This way your whole family can be saved, which I personally think is much better than the previous option."

"What about my title?" Lu Zhongheng asked again, "Can it be passed on?"

He asked this kind of question, which showed that he had a tendency. Zhu Zhen said slowly: "You can refer to the example of Marquis Deqing."

Marquis Deqing was Liao Yongzhong. After he died for disrespect, Zhu Yuanzhang still let his son Liao Quan inherit the title of Marquis Deqing.

But in the 17th year of Hongwu, after Liao Quan died of illness, his eldest son Liao Yong was not able to inherit the throne and could only get an idle job as a Sanqi Sheren.

“Haha…” Lawrence Lu laughed miserably and said, “At least I didn’t lose everything.”

"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "The most important thing now is to stop the loss."

"Is there any other choice?" Lu Zhongheng begged, "Your Majesty, I really don't want to die. Can you demote me to a garrison soldier and send me to Yunnan to serve Your Majesty? I'm very good at fighting. When I was young, I could lift a tripod. Even though I'm over fifty, young men don't have as much strength as me..."

"No." Zhu Zhen shook his head.

“…” Lawrence Lu’s voice stopped abruptly.

"Alas." Zhu Zhen sighed and said, "I also want to spare your life, but it is impossible. No matter which dynasty or which emperor is in his right mind, he will not tolerate a traitor, even if he did not rebel."

"I see." Lawrence Lu laughed bitterly and said, "I was just daydreaming."

"Being able to preserve the wealth and glory of your family and your descendants is already a special favor from your father because of our past friendship." Zhu Zhen sighed again and said, "People always have to pay the price for their actions. To be honest, this price is not too high."

"Hahaha, Your Majesty, there is no need to flatter the emperor. Don't I know how to take the throne?" Lawrence Lu suddenly laughed out loud:

"If we follow his temper of 'either don't do it or do it to the extreme', not only will the whole family be executed, but also all the people in the army who have any connection with us will be killed."

After a pause, he bowed to Zhu Zhen and said, "The reason why the punishment was so light must be the result of the strong persuasion of the Crown Prince and the Prince."

"There's no need for you to guess these things. They're of no use to you." Zhu Zhen said calmly.

"That's right." Lawrence Lu nodded self-deprecatingly, and then asked, "Then I will ask a different question. If I insist on not admitting my guilt and must die together with His Royal Highness Prince Yan, how will His Royal Highness respond?"

"Although in practice disobeying an imperial order is indeed defined as disrespect, if you flip through the beginning of the Ming Dynasty Code, you will find that disobeying an imperial order is not included in the list of crimes of disrespect." Zhu Zhen flipped the Ming Dynasty Code on the desk to the 'No Pardon Law' section and pushed it in front of him.

"What?" Lu Zhongheng was startled, and quickly looked at it, only to see the following: 'Third, the crime of disrespect. Anyone who forges a seal or privately drafts an order will be executed immediately; anyone who falsely transmits the order will have his entire clan executed.'

No matter how he looked, he couldn't see the word "disobeying the order".

"How could this be?" Lu Zhongheng murmured, "The Great Ming Code was drafted by the Grand Master, how could he remember it wrong?!"

Naturally, these unsophisticated people believed Li Shanchang's words without a doubt and would not check the "Great Ming Law" themselves.

"The Great Ming Code compiled by Grand Tutor Li was the version at the time of the founding of the country. Because it was too rough, in the sixth year of Hongwu, the emperor ordered the Minister of Justice Liu Weiqian to refine another version. After that, it was revised several times, with constant additions and deletions. It is possible that Grand Tutor Li did include that article at the time, but it was deleted in the later version iterations." Zhu Zhen explained.

"Damn it..." Lu Zhongheng slammed the latest edition of "Ming Dynasty Law" shut and cursed: "He is idle all day long and only marries concubines. He is killing us old men!"

"So, which path do you choose?" Zhu Zhen asked for the last time.

"Is there any other choice? It can only be the second one." Lu Zhongheng sighed resignedly, and looked at Lao Liu eagerly and said: "But I have a request for the prince, please agree to it."

"Go ahead." Zhu Zhen nodded.

"If the prince doesn't want me, would you like my son?" Lu Zhongheng said, "I want Lu Xian's four brothers to serve under the prince."

"Why do you have to follow me?" Zhu Zhen asked without comment.

"People in this world are very snobbish, and they always become cold to others when they are away. Moreover, my temper has offended many people. They will definitely suffer in other places in the future, and will be blamed for no reason. How can they live like this?" Lu Zhongheng kowtowed to Zhu Zhen again and said:
"Only the prince will treat them equally. I beg the prince to take them in. Only if they follow the prince, my Lu family will have a future."

Zhu Zhen couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "When did this prince have such a good reputation?"

"When the prince was in Yunnan, his reputation was already well-known." Lu Zhongheng said, "When he was in Shandong, his reputation was even more famous throughout the world."

"..." Zhu Zhen was speechless. He really didn't expect that doing things for the eighth and tenth brothers would have such an effect.

After a brief thought, he nodded and said, "I can agree to this. But under my command, there is no such thing as an idle day. We all have to fight. If you violate military law, I will also punish you severely."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. The boys of my Lu family are all good at fighting!" Lu Zhongheng patted his chest and said, "If they don't learn from their father's lesson and don't obey military orders, Your Majesty will kill them, and no one can blame Your Majesty."

"Okay." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "Write a letter of apology first."

Lawrence Lu said with embarrassment: "It would be better to kill me directly than to ask me to write an article."

"Okay. I'll call the clerk in, and you dictate and he'll write it down." Zhu Zhen said helplessly, "You have to touch the depths of your soul, don't make any excuses for yourself."

"Yes." Lu Zhongheng nodded in response.

Zhu Zhen then turned to another interrogation room and went to talk to the next person.

(End of this chapter)