Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 496 Self-defense
Zhao Guangyuan slept very soundly the night he returned to Beijing.

With his lovely wife by his side, whispering in my ears, the fighting outside seems to have faded into the distance, leaving only the tenderness and love.

Emperor Zhizheng in the palace tossed and turned and did not sleep well all night.

Liu Qi came back from the Prince of Yue's mansion and reported what he had seen and heard. He heard that the Prince of Yue had more than ten new and old wounds on his body, and the cuts were very deep. Emperor Zhizheng did not sleep all night.

In the past, his princes and princesses would call the imperial physician if they scratched their fingers in the palace, but Guangyuan had more than ten new and old wounds and was on the verge of death several times.

Emperor Zhizheng originally wanted to summon the prince and give him a good scolding.

Although he is the crown prince, he should have some courage and use some means to maintain his position. If he is weak and incompetent, Emperor Zhizheng will look down on him and consider whether this crown prince is qualified to sit on that position.

But that person is Guangyuan, the prince's brother.

Thinking of the late queen again, and now only this one bloodline left, Emperor Zhizheng suddenly felt a little guilty.

Thinking about compensating Guangyuan by giving his brother a posthumous title? Moving the imperial tomb?
But then he thought that if he gave the late crown prince a posthumous title, the previous charges against him would have to be overturned, and even Duke Lu's case would have to be sent back to the Dali Temple for retrial...Emperor Zhizheng's heart hardened again.

The consolidation of a country has always been achieved through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Zhao Guangyuan had a good sleep. When he woke up in the early morning, Lin Zhaoxia was still sleeping. He held her in his arms and was about to go back to Daqi. Changzhi leaned against the door and looked at him aggrievedly.

Zhao Guangyuan put his wife back on the bed and took his son to the living room. "You are in junior high school now, so your studies should be the most important thing. Learning more knowledge here will not be bad for your future."

"When can I return to the palace?"

"I'll let you go back." Zhao Guangyuan stroked his son's head, feeling the joy of having lost something and then finding it again. He almost lost sight of his son.

"Now there are more people watching our family of three. Dad and Mom will feel at ease if you stay here."

Chang Zhi nodded sensibly and said, "Then Dad, you and Mom must be fine." He didn't want to be an orphan.

"Okay, Dad promises you."

Changzhi watched his parents disappear in the living room, feeling lost. He wished he could grow up overnight so he could go back and help his father.

The King of Yue, who had been away from Beijing for nearly two months, went to court again, and all the ministers in Jiying Hall looked at him.

The prince looked at him with complicated eyes. He knew that the seventh brother would come back to Beijing, and he was afraid that he would tear his face off with him, and it would be a matter of life and death. The prince felt a little regretful that he failed to kill him and let him return to Beijing alive.

I don’t know how he will respond, so I discussed countermeasures with my staff overnight yesterday.

But no matter how the Seventh Old Man presented evidence, he just refused to admit it. His father, the crown prince, did not want to touch him. His father's unwillingness to touch him was his greatest asset.

The prince straightened his body and smiled at Zhao Guangyuan, "Seventh brother is back? You must have had a hard time on this trip."

Zhao Guangyuan glanced at him calmly without saying anything. The King of Jin and others came over to greet him. Although his face was cold, he nodded or agreed from time to time. He was the only one who didn't say a word to the Crown Prince.

The ministers saw this and their eyes flickered.

When Emperor Zhizheng was in court, not a single minister spoke up. Today's big drama was about the King of Yue, and no one was so tactless.

Zhao Guangyuan lived up to everyone's expectations and was the first to report on the mission, reporting on the process and results... "Although the levees in Luocheng and Linzhao were shoddy, the flood season has not yet arrived, so the dams will not be destroyed or breached. It was really man-made."

The ministers, who had already heard some rumors, began to whisper.

Emperor Zhizheng saw this from his seat of honor but did not stop it.

Zhao Guangyuan continued to report the disaster situation in the two places... "I passed by the village of Narrow Water in Wanhua County before and stayed there. I saw from the dam that although the levee was weak, the dam and several sluice gates were relatively solid. If there was a flood during the flood season, as long as it was handled properly, it would not flood the downstream. However, due to human factors, the entire village of Narrow Water was flooded overnight, and only one person survived."

When people heard that all the people in a village were gone, there was a buzz in the hall.

"…After the flood, I organized local young men to rescue people, and a total of 514 people died, including those in Narrow Water Village…"

"…The two dikes were rebuilt and the people were comforted. The total cost was 2,287,654 taels. One million taels was paid by me, and the rest was donated by the wealthy families and gentry in the two places…"

"…County offices in various places colluded with the prefecture government, lied about and concealed accounts, embezzled project funds, and suffered huge losses. In order to cover up the evidence, Xu Hu, the magistrate of Zhutou County, did not hesitate to have people pull out the gate overnight, causing countless deaths and injuries. Afterwards, they fled to Wei Quan, the prefect of Linzhao. Afterwards, my son wanted to arrest two people, but because the two places were rebuilding and pacifying the people, he did not do it. As a result, the two were killed in the house at night…"

Although he already knew the result and the officials from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue had returned and reported the incident, Emperor Zhizheng was still frightened.

When the ministers in Jiying Hall heard that a county magistrate and a prefect were killed in their own rooms, they couldn't help but feel their necks tighten.

I felt very sad.

Many people glanced vaguely at where the prince was standing, and then quickly looked away.

"Tsk tsk tsk, the death of Xu Huwei Quan was too unjust. Father has not yet convicted them. Whether they live or die is another matter. Why did they run into the edge of the knife? Tsk tsk." The King of Chu looked regretful and looked in the direction of the Crown Prince.

The prince was already feeling guilty, and he felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at by the King of Chu with such a glaring look.

"King Chu, what do you mean by looking at me like this?"

"What do you mean, Your Highness, you still don't understand? Do you really want me to speak it out in front of so many ministers?"

"The King of Chu is sure that Xu Hu and Wei Quan were my work?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Your Majesty, you should be more cautious about this matter. Be careful of what you say."

"The mouth can cause trouble? What, Prince, do you want someone to sneak into my room in the middle of the night and stab me?"

The prince snorted and didn't argue with him anymore.

He only said to Zhao Guangyuan: "Since the King of Yue said that the two of them were killed, he must have evidence. If so, just present the evidence. We can't just rely on the King of Yue's words. After all, I have received a lot of news these days."

"What news did the prince receive?" Zhao Guangyuan asked casually.

Seeing that the prince did not answer, he continued, "Are you saying that I failed to supervise properly, first I took the petty official and the owner of the monastery in Zhutou County as false witnesses, forced Xu Hu to confess, and then sent someone to kill him, in order to put all the evidence on Xu Hu and Wei Quan? Or is there news that I am planning to use this to frame the prince?"

The prince did not say anything, but his vassals came out to respond, saying that the water conservancy project was supervised by the prince, and if anything went wrong, the prince would be the first to bear the responsibility, so it was understandable to blame and suppress the prince.

"What's the reason?" Jiang Xiang jumped out, "Why did the King of Yue want to put the blame on the prince for no reason?"

"The reasons are well known."

"It's known to everyone?" Jiang Xiang looked at the minister angrily, "Why don't I know it!"

"That's because Lord Jiang is ignorant."

"I am ignorant?" He was so ignorant! Jiang Xiang was so angry that he wanted to tear the minister apart.

Seeing that a fight was about to break out in the palace, Emperor Zhizheng stopped both sides and said, "How shameful!"

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