Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1393: Die after having enough

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. He never expected Li Shanchang to say such a thing.

"You've finally spoken out what's in your heart today. To put it bluntly, you're just not satisfied! " He stared at Li Shanchang with a creepy smile.

"Yes, I am just not satisfied!" Li Shanchang was like a broken jar, ready to say it all at once, and nodded heavily:

"When I started the business with you, you only had two or three thousand men guarding the huge city of Chuzhou. It was like a child walking on the street holding a gold ingot. You could be killed at any time! It was because I taught you to open the warehouses and release the grain that you were able to recruit enough soldiers! It was because I helped you win over the gentry of Chuzhou that you were able to gain a firm foothold!"

"It was I who taught you to read and understand reason, and told you that you should learn from Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, who was 'open-minded and generous, knew how to appoint people to the right posts, and did not like to kill people', so that you could rise up and even dominate the world. Later, it was I who gave you advice and taught you how to become bigger and stronger, helped you plan the attack on Nanjing, and managed the logistics for your army. It was also I who mediated the conflicts between you and the civil and military officials." Li Shanchang became more and more presumptuous, and actually said:

"Without me, you would have been finished like Sun Deya, Peng Da, Zhao Junyong and others. You can't even be as good as Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng! Not to mention today!"

"Why am I working so hard? It's because when the superiors tried to lure me into joining them in Chuzhou, they promised that we would share the wealth and glory!" He said angrily:

"In the end, when the King of Wu came to the throne, I was a Duke. When you took over the world and ascended the throne as the Emperor, it would not be too much to promote me to the King of Huaixi? In the end, I am still a Duke! And an empty title of Duke without any fiefdom. The dry salary of a few thousand dan is used to send beggars. You still want me to be grateful to you? Ugh!"

"You..." Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned red and he kept coughing and couldn't speak after being scolded by Li Shanchang.

Eunuch Wu quickly stroked his chest and shouted to Li Shanchang, "Master Li, can't you see that the emperor is not feeling well? Shut up!"

"Ahem!" Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Li Shanchang with bloodshot eyes and said, "No, let him speak! If he doesn't speak now, he will never have the chance to speak in his life!"

"Okay, I'll continue." In fact, Li Shanchang had almost finished speaking, so he turned up the heat and said:
"The reason given by the emperor at that time was that there were too many rebellions by kings of different surnames in the past dynasties, so this dynasty would not enfeoff kings of different surnames. Great, now the world belongs to your Zhu family, and it has nothing to do with us, the founding heroes! Then you can do whatever you want, I won't serve you anymore!"

As he said this, he threw a memorial in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, then stood up with the help of his crutches and walked away without looking back.

"Your Majesty, are you just going to let him go like this?" Even Eunuch Wu couldn't stand it anymore.

"Let him go. What's the point of fussing over a dead man..." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the three words "apology" on the cover of the memorial and felt it was extremely ironic. He then started coughing violently and felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Imperial physician, imperial physician, please call the imperial physician!" Eunuch Wu called out loudly while stroking the emperor's chest.

~~
That incident, which was also the only time in his life that he spoke ill of Boss Zhu, exhausted all of Li Shanchang's physical strength, energy and courage.

He originally thought that there would be Jinyiwei who would arrest him directly, but no...

Since no one was trying to catch him, Li Shanchang had to leave the palace, but he could not ride in the sedan chair anymore. He had no choice but to walk slowly through the palace, not even knowing how he got out of the Meridian Gate.

Li Qi had been waiting at the palace gate. When he saw Li Shanchang coming out, he hurried forward to support him.

"Father, has the memorial been submitted?"

"Yeah." Li Shanchang responded with a nasal tone and walked towards the carriage.

"What does the emperor say?" Li Qi asked again.

"The emperor invited me to have noodles." Li Shanchang answered the question irrelevantly.

"Ah?" Li Qi was stunned for a moment before he reacted and said, "Ah, that's a good thing."

"Yeah." Li Shanchang responded casually and sat in the carriage with the help of his son.

Li Qi also got on the carriage. As the carriage swayed forward, he could not help but ask:

"Father, what should we do next?"

Li Shanchang said "wait" and then there was no movement.

Li Qi originally thought that he was asleep, but when he looked closely, he saw that Li Shanchang was staring at the roof of the car without blinking, and the whole person seemed to be in a trance...

~~
Three days later, the emperor issued an edict to summon eight dukes and marquises including Li Shanchang, Lu Zhongheng, Fei Ju and Tang Shengzong to the Fengtian Gate.

At the morning court session that day, eight dukes and marquises who had been serving their sentences at home reappeared before the civil and military officials after many days.

Then they read out their own apologies one by one, saying that they were tempted by Hu Weiyong and fell into his trap. By the time they realized it, it was too late to regret. Now they finally couldn't stand the condemnation of their conscience and the endless guilt towards the emperor, so they turned themselves in and were willing to accept any punishment, although their crimes could not be redeemed by death...

We are all mature politicians. Emotions are emotions, but things still have to be done.

After the eight people finished reading their apologies, Boss Zhu said sadly that these people were his trusted aides who had started the business with him, and had made great contributions over the years. He had reserved tablets for them in the Temple of Heroes. However, they ended up in disgrace because of a single mistake.

I really couldn't bear to execute these old brothers, so I decided to show them some mercy and allow them to hand in their iron certificates as punishment for their death. This is just one time, and it won't happen again.

Li Shanchang and others burst into tears of gratitude and thanked the emperor for his grace. They said that although the emperor had forgiven them, they still found it difficult to forgive themselves.

Now Boss Zhu had to comfort them and tell them not to have any psychological burden, saying that since he had forgiven them, he would not pursue the matter any further and that they could all go back and live their lives in peace...

Finally, they asked their son to help his father down.

Li Qi supported Li Shanchang and once again walked out of the Meridian Gate and got on the carriage.

When they drove a distance away, he finally didn't have to pretend to be sad, and said happily: "The emperor finally pardoned my father, and we have finally passed this hurdle. Right, father?"

"Yes." Li Shanchang nodded calmly.

"By the way, father, when will mother and brothers be able to come back?" Li Qi asked again.

"Soon." Li Shanchang answered perfunctorily, then looked at his son deeply and said:

"Qier, did you have a conflict with the princess?"

"No." Li Qi quickly denied it.

"No shit." Li Shanchang snorted, "How many days have you not been home?"

"Alas, I just complained a few words and asked her why she didn't ask my mother to save her father, and the princess got angry and refused to see me." Li Qi said depressedly: "I just left her alone for a few days."

"You bastard!" Li Shanchang slapped her in the face and cursed, "Do you think we are still the same as before? We are now phoenixes without feathers, which are worse than chickens. What right do you have to be angry with the princess?!"

Li Qi covered his face and said, "Dad, I know I was wrong."

“Alas…” Li Shan let out a long sigh and said in a slow tone, “Get off the car quickly and go back to coax the princess. Remember, you must be accommodating to her and praise her, and never have conflicts with her. Our family is in decline, and we all rely on her in the future!”

"Hey, Father, I understand." Li Qi responded quickly, muttering in his heart why his father spoke strangely today, as if he was leaving his last words.

But he didn't think much about it and quickly got off the car and returned to the princess's mansion.

Li Shanchang took a car back to the empty Hanguo Mansion alone and entered the study.

After sending his attendants away, he began to grind ink himself, then picked up a brush and wrote eight words on the wall of the study - 'The emperor's grace is so great that I am ashamed'!
Then he took off his belt, tied it to the beam, and hanged himself...

~~
Upon hearing the news that Grand Tutor Li had committed suicide, Lu Zhongheng knew that his time had come.

He first told his wife his last words and asked her to tell his sons about his plans. Then he drove his crying wife out of the room and bolted the door.

Then he took out the poison he had prepared long ago and swallowed it with gritted teeth.

Then he lay on the bed and waited for death. He thought it would be over in a moment, but being poisoned to death was a painful and long process. He rolled over on the bed and wailed in pain!
In a trance, he seemed to have returned to the time when he was seventeen years old, his hometown was plundered by rebels, he was short of food and clothing, his parents and brothers were all dead. He was holding a liter of wheat and hiding in the grass. At this time, another army appeared, defeated the rebels, and found him.

The leader was Zhu Yuanzhang, who asked him, "Will you come with me?"

Lawrence Lu replied: “Follow.”

He followed his superior and left his hometown, heading towards a distant place with brilliant light...

(End of this chapter)