King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 12 Kill the chicken to warn the monkey

In Yong'an Hall, with the sound of drums and music, surrounded by a group of eunuchs, Prince Zhu Jingyuan slowly ascended to the hall.

After all, the prince is only the crown prince, so of course he cannot sit on the throne, so another seat was set up in front of the throne.

At this moment, Zhu Jingyuan's clothes are similar to Zhu Jinghong's, except that the two wings of Yishan crown have gold borders, which shows the difference between the prince and the prince.

"The prince is thousands of years old..."

"rise!"

After the salute was completed, all the courtiers stood still, waiting for Zhu Jingyuan to speak.

"All ministers and workers, I called you here today because of money and food..."

"The Japanese pirates disturbed the ancestor's mausoleum, His Majesty was furious and ordered severe punishment, and must be uprooted..."

"The army went ahead without moving food and grass, but the money and food of the prefectures and counties..."

Zhu Jingyuan's words were nothing new, and made the officials present drowsy. They had heard these words several times.

Standing among the courtiers, Gao Shuyan also felt helpless, this prince really couldn't grasp the focus!
Blindly admonishing without substantive punishment will only make local officials look down on them, and it is often more difficult to explain things.

"Master Thirteen, you'd better come out!" Gao Shuyan shouted in his heart.

In fact, Zhu Jinghong was right behind the throne, and he was also deeply speechless at this moment.

After straightening his scarf and hat, Zhu Jinghong flicked his sleeves and walked around the throne to the front of the hall.

All the officials were listening to the instructions respectfully, but seeing Zhu Jinghong walking out in a big way, everyone was very surprised.

Zhu Jingyuan stopped, looked at Zhu Jinghong and asked, "Why did you come out at this time?"

In the ears of others, they only thought that the prince blamed Zhu Jinghong and told him that he should not come out to make trouble during the discussion.

Facing the comments of nearly a hundred officials, Zhu Jinghong did not show any timidity, and replied with a smile: "Fourth brother, I am bored by myself, so I came here specially to see how fourth brother manages politics!"

Zhu Jingyuan nodded: "Then you stand beside Gao Qing and don't wander around!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Jinghong went to Gao Shuyan's side, while Zhu Jingyuan continued to talk freely.

Those useless nonsense exposed Zhu Jingyuan's weakness, and the more he listened to it, the more Zhu Jinghong couldn't bear it.

"presumptuous……"

Suddenly, Zhu Jinghong's violent shouting shocked everyone in the hall.

All eyes were on Zhu Jinghong.

"What are you two doing?"

Zhu Jinghong turned around and stared at the two officials coldly, which made everyone inexplicably astonished.

Seeing that the two were silent, Zhu Jinghong directly pushed aside the few people in front of him, and came to the two who were captured by him.

"I'm asking you something, didn't you hear me?" Zhu Jinghong's tone became more and more severe.

Although he has not officially become a king, but as the current emperor's son, such a severe question naturally makes people tremble.

After all, the status gap is too big, not to mention Zhu Jinghong has such a loud voice.

Everyone was shocked in place, and the crown prince Zhu Jingyuan was no exception. His impromptu reaction was still a bit poor.

One of the officials calmed down and asked calmly: "The two ministers are listening to the crown prince's instructions, I don't know what the Thirteenth Master said!"

This question aroused everyone's doubts, and they all thought that Zhu Jinghong was making trouble for no reason.

He only heard a person next to him say: "Master Thirteen, His Royal Highness is lecturing, and you disturb me for no reason...I'm afraid it's not appropriate!"

Zhu Jinghong was about to get angry, but he didn't expect that someone would dare to criticize him, so he looked back.

"who are you?"

"Chen Jinling inspects the imperial censor Zhao Xuyan!"

The inspector is the censor of the capital, and he has the power of supervision and supervision in a province. Although he is only a fifth-rank official, his words carry a lot of weight.

Of course, the so-called weight also depends on who you compare with.

For example, for Zhu Jinghong, it was just the role of passer-by, and he didn't care at all.

"The censor picked up all the officials, that's just right... When Brother Huang was speaking, these two people were whispering below, slandering Brother Emperor's governance, what crime should they be?"

After hearing Zhu Jinghong's explanation, everyone finally knew the reason, but they doubted the authenticity of these words.

The two officials who were accused directly knelt on the ground at this moment, complaining to Zhu Jingyuan who was on the imperial steps: "Your Highness, how dare the two ministers not respectfully listen to you, please Your Highness the Crown Prince to investigate clearly!"

Excusing themselves and begging the prince for forgiveness is the most important thing these two should do.

"You mean that I wronged you?"

Facing Zhu Jinghong's questioning, the two officials did not answer, but it was also tantamount to acquiescing.

"Look, fourth brother, how disobedient these two are, not only treat your speech as a joke, but now they are slandering me!"

"Such a lack of etiquette as a minister, those who commit chaos...should be severely punished!"

"Please fourth brother take the flag of the king's order, take these two off their posts, and deal with them strictly according to the king's law!"

Immediately came up with a way to kill chickens and monkeys. Although the method is not brilliant, it will definitely have a significant effect.

Right now, Zhu Jinghong handed the knife to Zhu Jingyuan, and he only needs to nod his head.

The situation was changing extremely fast, and now it was the most critical moment, Gao Shuyan looked expectantly at Zhu Jingyuan.

Zhu Jingyuan was naturally clear about the current situation, but it was a pity that he still encountered difficulties.

There was no time for him to prepare, and he was asked to deal with two officials. It was difficult for him to make a decision at this time.

"Prince, Wang Qun and Wang Qun are upright officials, so don't add crimes for no reason!"

"His Royal Highness, please make a clear decision!"

"I beg Your Royal Highness to make a clear decision!"

More and more people began to kneel down to intercede with Wang Qun and Wang Qun, and the voices in the hall erupted one after another.

Zhu Jingyuan only felt the excitement of the crowd, and felt that he was in a dilemma for a while, and if he really wanted to deal with it, he would make the crowd angry.

In Zhu Jinghong's eyes, this group of people has obvious signs of reporting to the group, and it is precisely to be severely cracked down.

"Fourth brother, don't let them go lightly, and beggars should be severely punished regardless of right and wrong!"

Zhu Jinghong's words were tantamount to adding fuel to the fire. All the officials glared at him and still begged Zhu Jingyuan to judge right from wrong.

Right and wrong are not important at this time. After a very difficult balance, Zhu Jingyuan gritted his teeth and said: "The two of you, Wang Qun, are detrimental to official etiquette, so be stricter..."

It's a pity that Zhu Jingyuan was so nervous that he coughed before he finished his sentence.

But Zhu Jinghong didn't miss the opportunity, and immediately shouted outside: "Come here, drag these two people out, so that they don't have black veils on their heads, and put them in prison to wait for their punishment!"

Zhu Jinghong, the guard on duty today, had already greeted him in advance, and someone would come in immediately after receiving the order.

The bodyguards of the Dragon Guard are all from the Wu Xun family, and have no interest in the civil service system, so they don't have the slightest psychological burden to take people at this moment.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the guards dragged Wang Qun and Wang Qun out in a swift and resolute manner.

Zhu Jingyuan was still coughing, and it was useless to plead for mercy at this moment. The officials looked at each other, and finally turned their attention to several senior officials at the scene.

However, no matter Zheng Xianlin or He Gujin, there was no expression on their faces at the moment, as if what happened just now did not exist.

At this moment on the imperial steps, Zhu Jingyuan was still coughing, and the cough was getting worse.

"Your Highness, are you okay?" Zheng Xianlin looked concerned.

It was only after he took the lead that all the officials realized that as ministers, they should care about the safety of the prince at this moment.

When everyone was concerned about him, they frightened a group of eunuchs so much that they wanted to help him to the bedroom to rest for treatment.

Unwilling to give up the hard-won "excellent situation", when Zhu Jingyuan got up, he only heard him intermittently: "The discussion continues, and the thirteenth brother... will preside over it!"

I thought it was time to break up, but Zhu Jingyuan's last words were like pouring a basin of cold water on everyone.

(End of this chapter)