Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 164 Not killing the prince-in-law is not enough for the people to be angry
When Zhang Yifan heard this, he turned to look at him and asked in a cold voice: "What did I say wrong just now? If you have any questions, you can raise them. But you didn't! That is to say, you actually think that I am right. If you can’t refute it, why don’t you use the prime minister to make an argument?”

"I..." Zhu Yu wanted to refute when he heard it, but for a while, he didn't know how to refute this.

In fact, the reason why he mentioned the prime minister was not necessarily because he was not pretending to be a tiger, and he meant that the Zhu family had a good relationship with the prime minister.

At this time, Zhang Yifan did not give him a chance and continued to question him: "There are only two possibilities for why you did this. The first one is that you think the prime minister is more effective than the court laws, or even imply that the prime minister is more effective than the emperor. Want it bigger?"

"No, no, no, I didn't mean it. I definitely didn't mean it!" When Zhu Yu heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat. He really didn't mean it, and he would deny it immediately.

When Zhang Yifan heard this, he immediately asked: "That is to say, there is only the second possibility, that is, the prime minister knew about your father's collusion with the pirates, so you were so confident and knew that the prime minister would speak for your father? Or is it that the prime minister and your father colluded with pirates?"

As soon as he said these words, even Zhu Di was surprised.

This time I came here just to vent Zhang Yifan's anger. Within the scope of his authority, there was no problem in doing this Yongjiahou.Unexpectedly, Zhang Yifan actually wanted to involve the prime minister!
If you do this, it will cause too much trouble, and your father will be unhappy, right?

At the end of the ninth year of Hongwu, Zhang Yifan, a person from later generations, knew that classmate Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with Hu Weiyong, and was even dissatisfied with the position of prime minister.

Therefore, others feel that the prime minister has high authority and is not easy to offend.However, to Zhang Yifan, Hu Weiyong was nothing. If something happened to him, even if Zhu Yuanzhang was unhappy, he would not be really unhappy.

The knife is handed over and it depends on when Zhu Yuanzhang wants to use it.

Of course, if Hu Weiyong did not offend Zhang Yifan, or was someone Zhang Yifan admired, then not only would he not do this, but he might actually help Hu Weiyong resolve the issue.

At this time, what happened to Hu Weiyong? He was just a prime minister. It was not that he had never been criticized before. It was impossible to scare him with Hu Weiyong.

Zhu Yu's words were actually very common. He meant that the prime minister knew that his father had been wronged. However, Zhang Yifan misinterpreted it and even bit the prime minister, which frightened all the other officials.

Originally, they had some thoughts to defend Yongjiahou. After all, they knew that Yongjiahou was actually trying to manipulate the consort because of the public distribution of grain fields.

But at this time, they saw with their own eyes that after offending this prince-in-law, how much self-confidence do they have to resist the revenge from him?He is someone who dares to bite even the prime minister!
Even some well-informed people immediately remembered that this son-in-law not only hated the prime minister, but also the grand master, Han Guogong, the first hero in the founding of the Ming Dynasty, who else could he be afraid of, and who did he dare not hate?

Even though this prince-in-law seems to be an approachable person, how many people can withstand his crazy revenge when he gets angry?
No, after listening to what the consort said, he pointed at Zhu Yu and said to Zhu Di: "Since he confessed to colluding with the prime minister, arrest him and interrogate him to see if there is any evidence of collusion with the prime minister!"

Zhu Yu was frightened. When his father saw it, he immediately roared at Zhang Yifan: "I have offended you. Come to me if you can! I will frown and take your surname!"

I have been fighting for a lifetime, and now I feel the most frustrated.

Seeing that he was still so crazy, Zhang Yifan sneered and said: "If you collude with pirates, it is treason and a serious crime of rebellion. What else do you want? Catch them all!"

If he really wants to be convicted of treason, no ironclad certificate can save him.And this sin will at least kill the whole family.

When Zhu Xian heard this, he quickly stood up, saluted respectfully, and begged Zhang Yifan for mercy: "Your Majesty, Prince Consort, my father was just confused for a moment and did something wrong. Please give me mercy, Prince Consort!"

In front of everyone, even if Zhu Di felt that Zhang Yifan had gone too far, he would not refute Zhang Yifan's face. At most, he would talk about it later.

At this time, when another son of Marquis Yongjia came out to speak, although his attitude softened, he still waved his hand and said: "You don't have the final say here, come on, arrest their whole family first!"

As soon as his personal guards heard this, they were ready to arrest Zhu Xian.

When Zhang Yifan saw him, he said to Zhu Di: "He probably didn't know what his father was doing. He sent troops to Xiangshan County to help prevent pirates. He must not be with the pirates."

"Oh?" Zhu Di was a little surprised after hearing this. He glanced at Zhu Xian and said, "I didn't expect that there is another person who obeys my father's will and can obey my consort's request to help defend. Not bad!"

Hearing this, Zhang Yifan saw Zhu Xian looking at him with begging for mercy, and finally said: "I think the matter of colluding with the pirates is only their father and son's business, so I'll arrest them first." As for their families, let’s talk about it later.”

Zhu Di came to make such a big fuss just to give him a platform, so whatever he said, Zhu Di nodded.

Then, Zhu Di even pointed at the current officials and asked: "Are there any internal collaborators here?"

This question frightened all these officials to look at the son-in-law with begging eyes, afraid that he would say his name.

Even Yongjia Hou was arrested as soon as he said he would be arrested, so what did they think?
Once you are caught, even if you prove your innocence afterwards, you will definitely have to suffer a lot!

Fortunately, Zhang Yifan didn't identify them, so he let them go.However, taking advantage of Zhu Di's visit, Zhang Yifan did not intend to capture only Yongjia Hou.

In the jail in Xiangshan County, many people who spread panic speeches were also arrested. Most of the masters behind them are powerful gentry from all over the country.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhu Di was given a list and started arresting people everywhere.

The father-in-law of Marquis Yongjia naturally couldn't escape; anyway, the powerful squires in Guangzhou Prefecture captured a lot of them at once.

It is a bit of a pity that there is no evidence pointing to the He family in Dongguan.

Of course, Zhang Yifan would not arrest him based on his imagination, because Zhu Di was not the emperor yet, and Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely have to ask about this matter later, at least he must be able to explain it openly.

Including Yongjiahou's side, it was not difficult to check. Zhu Di quickly obtained the evidence. The navy did not need any maintenance and could be dispatched to exterminate the pirates. This was because Yongjiahou ordered not to move.

After receiving two requests for help from Xiangshan County, the army was not mobilized because Marquis Yongjia did not give any orders at all.

In addition, many problems of Marquis Yongjia were also discovered, such as hiding women in the military camp, wantonly abusing soldiers, etc.

As for the evidence of collusion with the prime minister, no evidence was found.

Zhu Di was busy in Guangdong for three days and arrested more than 100 criminals and prisoners headed by Yongjiahou.Most of them are powerful landowners with many grain fields.Subsequently, the relevant report was sent to the capital for the emperor to decide.

While waiting for the capital's reply, Zhu Di stayed in Xiangshan County, reunited with Zhang Yifan and Zhu Jingjing, and chatted broadly.

………………

On the capital side, there were more and more things related to Xiangshan County, but they were all left out by Zhu Yuanzhang.

In the end, after the memorial of the Guangzhou Salt Education Department arrived, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong saw that Emperor Hongwu was still silent, so he finally couldn't help it, and asked the Yushitai, the Ministry of Households and other yamen to unite and ask the emperor to give the result.

Zhu Yuanzhang may have seen that there were indeed many ministers who submitted the petition, so he finally agreed to the request and held a court meeting on matters in Xiangshan County.

In the Wuying Hall, Chen Ning, the imperial censor, was the first to go out and report to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, I have heard that the prince-in-law is serving as the county magistrate in Xiangshan County. He is arrogant and lawless, and plunders the people's grain fields, causing public outrage. The censor is willing to send an imperial censor." Shi went to verify, either to clear the prince's innocence or to bring justice to the people."

Hu Weiyong remained calm and just glanced at the Minister of Hubu. He saw that the Minister of Hubu also came out and said: "The prince-in-law is administering the government indiscriminately in Xiangshan County and selling salt at a low price, which has seriously disrupted the salt class. If the prince-in-law is allowed to act like this, , Guangdong salt tax, I am afraid that no grain will be collected, so please ask your majesty to issue an edict to prohibit the prince-in-law from intervening in the salt administration!"

"Your Majesty, I also have a report. According to local reports, the prince-in-law is arresting people randomly in Xiangshan County. As long as he doesn't like what he sees or what he hears, he will put people in jail. The people are suffering unspeakably!"

"His Majesty……"

"..."

For a moment, it seemed that the prince-in-law Zhang Yifan had really offended the public and made people angry in the local area. All he had to do was to clearly shout out that not killing the prince-in-law would not be enough to make the people angry.

But Zhu Yuanzhang just listened quietly, and it was hard to tell what his mood was!

Hu Weiyong observed the situation for a while, and felt that the emperor still didn't seem to have any intention of dealing with the consort, so he finally came out and followed suit: "Your Majesty is planning for the world. He chooses a remote place to implement administration first, observes its good and bad, and then decides on the world's policy. It’s a wonderful move, and the humble ministers also gave their full support..."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and seemed to feel very unhappy, but in the end, he did not speak and just listened.

On Hu Weiyong's side, he continued to say: "...However, from what I hear, the son-in-law has failed to live up to the holy will. The new policies that he implemented in Xiangshan County are seldom the new policies that were previously agreed, but act recklessly and do whatever he wants. . I think this approach is really inappropriate!"

He knew something because Zhu Yuanzhang told him when he wanted to send Zhang Yifan out.It is for this reason that he has this statement.

After hearing what Hu Weiyong said, these ministers almost unanimously reported together: "Your Majesty, please make a decision and recall the consort!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he sneered in his heart.

If it weren't for the fact that he valued the emperor's consort to go to Xiangshan County to implement the New Deal, and secretly sent out Jin Yiwei to report the news back at any time, just listening to what these ministers said, and everyone talking about it, might really believe them.

Even if he was suspicious and sent an imperial envoy to Xiangshan County, it would definitely have a great impact on Zhang Yifan's new policy.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a wealthy man. Although he had already made up his mind, he was not in a hurry. He just said calmly: "The prince-in-law went to a remote place in Lingnan to try out the New Deal. The journey was long and the transmission of news was inconvenient. Why do you insist on what he did?" No benefit to the country?"

After hearing this, everyone immediately felt that the emperor still seemed to be partial to the consort, so Chen Ning, the imperial censor, immediately reported: "Your Majesty, all the officials in Guangdong have reported, and even the Marquis of Yongjia has testified. The prince-in-law's affairs in the local area often disturbed the people and were arrogant. He even gave instructions to Marquis Yongjia, so that the construction of Guangzhou North City was forced to be delayed for a long time!"

Logically speaking, Marquis Yongjia was a famous hero in the founding of the country. He was given an iron certificate and a hereditary marquis by the emperor. He was definitely one of the people the emperor trusted most.

It is very convincing to take his words out, proving that the son-in-law is indeed running amok in the local area.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard this and was about to speak when he saw a chamberlain holding a box and hurried in. He said in public: "Long live my Lord, His Highness King Yan has sent an urgent message from Guangdong!"

Zhu Di had special privileges. His memorial did not need to go through the normal process. It first went to Zhongshu Province and then to Zhu Yuanzhang, but was delivered directly to the emperor.

At this time, people in Wuying Hall were surprised when they heard that King Yan had sent a report from Guangdong: When did King Yan leave Jiangyin, and also went to Guangdong?
Zhu Yuanzhang was not surprised, and said to the ministers below: "Since we are discussing Guangdong affairs, let us read it out and let all the ministers listen together!"

He had already grasped the matter of the fourth child's arrival in Guangdong. He also knew that Zhu Di would help him when he arrived.

Originally, he had planned to question the complainants one by one, but now that the fourth son's memorial had arrived, he was too lazy to waste time and listened to what the fourth son had to say first.

So, the eunuch on duty read Zhu Di's memorial in public.

Good guy, when I read this, I was immediately shocked. Even Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised.

No one expected that when Zhu Di arrived in Guangdong, not only did he destroy the pirates, but he also said that Marquis Yongjia and a large group of people had colluded with the pirates.Over there in Guangdong, there’s a huge commotion!
To be honest, no one believes this conclusion!
With his status as Marquis Yongjia, why would he collude with pirates when he is well fed?
However, Zhu Di also said in the memorial that there was enough evidence to show that the behavior of Yongjiahou and others was enough to prove that they were suspected of colluding with pirates.

At this time, everyone in the court was dumbfounded.

Just now, we used what Yongjiahou and others said to prove that the prince-in-law was acting recklessly in Xiangshan County. But it turned out that there was something wrong with the person who complained, so can his conclusion be believed?

It is not an exaggeration to describe this transformation as a dramatic turn of events.

However, what they never expected was that the things mentioned in this memorial are not over yet, and this change can be described with nine bends and eighteen bends.

Because Zhu Di said at the end of the memorial that according to Zhu Yu, the second son of Yongjiahou, Prime Minister Hu Weiyong and Yongjiahou also colluded!
At this time, even Hu Weiyong was dumbfounded.

The matter of finally organizing to denounce the prince-in-law turned against him in the end!
　Ask for support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)