Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 164 We will be a family from now on

Li Wei and Xue Xiang held umbrellas and hurried into the palace to ask for an audience. After reporting, they finally came to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang had been waiting for a long time and only glanced at them lightly when he saw them.

"I see you, Your Majesty!"

Li Wei and Xue Xiang saluted together.

"Your Majesty, Xu Yong of the Arms Bureau is corrupt, perverting the law, and mistreating the craftsmen. The craftsmen were also oppressed and had no choice but to rise up to resist. Please have mercy on your Majesty!"

Li Wei said eagerly.

Xue Xiang immediately followed: "Your Majesty, I can testify to this matter. That Xu Yongchen also scolded him, but he refused to change despite repeated admonitions, which led to this disaster. The craftsmen were also forced to have no choice."

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored Xue Xiang, raised his head slightly, glanced at Li Wei, and asked lightly: "We heard that you asked Tao Youqing to incite the craftsmen?"

"Yes, I am your Majesty. Please punish me!"

Xue Xiang had already told him in detail what had happened on the way here. Now that Tao Youqing is dead, whether those words are what he said depends entirely on his own words.

If he denies, then these craftsmen are beating the officials privately and beheading them in public. But if he admits, then these people are equivalent to following his orders and are blindly following his orders, and their sins are much smaller.

Although he was also taking power and messing with orders, he was a sixth-grade official, higher than Xu Yong, and what Zhu Yuanzhang did was just to force him to be obedient, so he just followed his wishes.

When Xue Xiang heard what he said, he couldn't help but glance at him worriedly. This was no small matter. If the crime was really punished according to the law, it would not be impossible to lose his life.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat upright for a moment, then asked an unrelated topic: "Have you finished writing your essay?"

Li Wei's face paused slightly, and he hesitated for a moment before saying, "I have little talent and little knowledge. I need to think more carefully about my words."

"Then you go back and think about it, don't bother us here!"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands away angrily.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Li Wei sighed inwardly. Regardless of whether he wanted to or not, he could not defeat the lord of the world.

"Write it tomorrow."

After saying these words, Li Wei's whole body was like a deflated rubber ball, and his whole body became listless.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled with satisfaction and said softly: "The craftsmen are all being detained in the Ministry of Punishment. Go and tell them yourself."

When Li Wei heard this, he was surprised and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

With Zhu Yuanzhang's words, those craftsmen could at least survive.

However, Xue Xiang did not feel relieved and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, Master Li..."

Li Wei admitted this crime. If there is no reasonable explanation, he will definitely be punished.

Li Wei himself was not very worried. He knew that as long as he agreed to Zhu Yuanzhang, he would be fine.

Sure enough, Zhu Yuanzhang took out a copy of the imperial edict and threw it to Li Wei.

Li Wei took it and opened it. What was written inside was the edict appointing him to act as the agent of the Arms Bureau. The date was six days ago. Obviously, this was something Zhu Yuanzhang had prepared long ago.

With this edict, it was justifiable for him to order the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau to do things. Although this was obviously a forced cover-up, with the emperor's edict and the endorsement of Xue Xiang, the top leader of the Ministry of Industry, no one could pick him out. Something wrong.

At the same time, he was tied up in the Ordnance Bureau again. If he refused to accept it or had to deal with the confession again, then this situation would definitely happen again today.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Wei put away the imperial edict and bowed hastily.

When Xue Xiang saw this thing, he understood it and finally felt relieved.

"Your Majesty, if you have no other instructions, please leave first!"

Li Wei went on to say that those craftsmen were now being held in the Ministry of Punishments. He should go and explain them earlier so that they could be rescued early to avoid long nights and nightmares.

"Go away, go away!" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand impatiently.

Li Wei and Xue Xiang bowed and resigned together.

After leaving the palace, the two of them did not dare to stay and hurried straight to the Criminal Department.

After all, Xue Xiang was also a minister. After the two came to the Ministry of Justice, although Zhang Zongyi was unhappy, he still took care of his face and received the two in person.

Li Wei got straight to the point and said: "Sir Zhang, those craftsmen acted like this after my orders. Please give me a lighter sentence."

When Zhang Zongyi heard this, he sneered. Of course he heard this when he was interrogating the craftsmen. This Li Wei was really brave. He was demoted to the Jiaofang Department and was not honest yet, yet he still dared to commit such a crime. Those craftsmen were also stupid. Dare to obey.

Li Wei has an official status, unlike those craftsmen. According to the Ming Dynasty law, crimes committed by high officials can only be impeached to the emperor and wait for the emperor to issue an order to punish the crime. Officials with small officials in the capital must also petition for orders before they can be investigated. This is the aristocratic class. Even if he is a local Zhima official, he cannot be sentenced. Just like in the case of Daotong, Zhu Liang's great ancestral Marquis and the chief envoy Xu Ben could not do anything to him directly, but could only file a report to frame him.

Naturally, Zhang Zongyi could not directly arrest Li Wei for interrogation. He had to ask His Majesty for orders. However, he did not expect that Li Wei would dare to come to the door himself at this time.

"Li Wei, how dare you, the chief minister of a religious school, to issue such a chaotic order? I am about to ask Your Majesty for orders to punish you!"

Zhang Zongyi said coldly.

Although Li Wei felt unhappy when he saw him like this, since the craftsman was still locked up inside, he had no choice but to mess around, so he took out the edict and showed it to him.

Zhang Zongyi's face suddenly turned ugly when he saw this edict.

This is obviously His Majesty's cover-up. Why didn't you take it out earlier if this thing really existed? The date above was six days ago. At that time, Li Wei was still staying at home.

"Since we have this edict, why didn't we bring it out earlier?" Zhang Zongyi asked angrily.

"I'm busy, I haven't had time yet, I'm sorry." Li Wei opened his eyes and told lies. The emperor was already shameless anyway, so why did he still need shame?

Xue Xiang also echoed: "I am aware of this edict. Mr. Li has already informed me of it. It is my fault that I failed to inform all the yamen in time."

Zhang Zongyi's face twitched with anger. This group of people, from the emperor to the boss of the Ministry of Industry, were colluding. What else could he say?
Although it is against the rules to issue an edict like this, Zhu Yuanzhang did a lot of illegal things. You can't say that he is illegal. After all, the emperor himself is the law.

"Humph, even so, you are abusing your power and acting arbitrarily! I will definitely impeach you to His Majesty!" Zhang Zongyi said angrily.

Li Wei looked indifferent: "Can those craftsmen be let go?"

"We can release them, but some of them have already been taken to the execution ground. I'm afraid it's too late!"

He now understood why Mao Xiang had hinted to him to kill less. It turned out that this had been arranged long ago, and His Majesty just wanted to use his hand to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys.

Li Wei stood up suddenly in shock: "What? How could it happen so fast?"

Xue Xiang was also shocked. Logically speaking, the Ministry of Punishment's case review process was cumbersome and it took less than two days, so the execution should not be pronounced so quickly.

"Hmph, if a big case is important, it should be done quickly. What's not to do?" Zhang Zongyi sneered.

"You!" Li Wei glared, reached out and grabbed his collar and pulled him up.

"What are you doing? How dare you be rude to me? Let go!"

Zhang Zongyi shouted loudly and said, although Li Wei is a weakling, he is an old man and is afraid of young people.

Xue Xiang quickly stepped forward and grabbed Li Wei: "Master Li, don't be impulsive, it's more important to save people!"

When Li Wei heard this, he didn't care about anything else and asked directly: "Where is the execution ground?"

Zhang Zongyi, in line with the old man's consciousness of not taking any immediate losses, did not hide anything and said directly: "It is located in the Ordnance Bureau."

Of course he did this to frighten the craftsmen of the Arms Bureau, and of course this was what Zhu Yuanzhang meant.

Li Wei pushed him away, turned around and rushed to save people. He walked to the door and said to Xue Xiang: "Master Xue, the remaining craftsmen will be left to you. Watch carefully and ask them to let them go!"

Although Zhang Zongyi agreed to release him, he was still worried and warned Xue Xiang.

Xue Xiang was originally going to go to the execution ground with him. Hearing this, he paused and nodded: "Okay, I'll keep an eye on you here. You go quickly."

Li Wei no longer hesitated, turned around and ran out.

The patter of spring rain didn't seem heavy, but Li Wei ran in a hurry, and even holding an umbrella got his lower body wet. Moreover, the official robe was really inconvenient for movement. In the end, he just threw down the umbrella, lifted up the robe and ran.

When he ran out of breath to the Ordnance Bureau, he heard faint crying in the distance, and his heart suddenly sank.

When he got closer and saw the scene here clearly, his rapid breathing suddenly stopped!
I saw five or six heads tied with ropes and hung by their hair at the door of the Ordnance Bureau. The dirty hair covered most of their faces, but people who were familiar with them could still recognize who they were.

The officer didn't stop, but he hung two more balls and then stopped.

There were family members on the side crying miserably as they put away the headless body. The head, which was displayed to the public, could not be taken back until the official display was completed.

Li Wei looked at all this and stood blankly on the spot, his hands and feet were cold and his whole body was stiff!He has seen a lot of dead people, even skinned Xuancao, and a few human heads will not frighten him.

However, these people who died now were people he was familiar with, and several of them were managers he had promoted.

These people once built a blast furnace with him, studied lathes together, polished parts together, made bicycles and steel armor for him, and...

Together……

……

The officers of the Ministry of Punishment finished their work and when they left, they looked at this man standing stupidly in official uniform, but they didn't come up to talk to him and hurriedly packed up their things and left.

After all, it was still raining.

Although the weather is getting warmer now, the rain is still very cold on the body.

The cold rain extinguished the warmth on Li Wei's body and also extinguished his heart.

If he was angry, sad, and a little panicked when Xu Yao died, now, he can only feel chilled.

These people rose up to resist after listening to his words. Although Tao Youqing was lying, they only listened if they took it seriously. Strictly speaking, these people still died for him.

After the guards packed up their things and left, the family members also left crying with the mutilated body.

Some of the craftsmen who ran by saw his former minister, but their eyes were no longer as warm and respectful as before, but filled with fear!

Li Wei stood dumbly. When the craftsmen passed by, they all stayed away from him. No one came up to talk to him, and no one called him Master Li again.

The crowd gradually left, leaving him standing alone in the rain for a long, long time...

After an unknown amount of time, someone finally came out of the Arms Bureau and came to him.

Lu Ti stepped forward to hold an umbrella for him and whispered: "Master Li, go back!"

Li Wei stared at the hung heads, motionless, and said in a hoarse voice: "Tell me, why do they listen to me?"

Luti was slightly taken aback when he heard this, then he pondered for a moment and replied: "It's because you have brought them hope."

He was born into a craftsman family and had been in the Ordnance Bureau for many years. He had been there since the Ordnance Bureau was still a munitions depot. He understood the thoughts of these craftsmen very well.

They had been living a hard life before and didn't think it was anything. But after Li Wei came, everything changed. They no longer had to be beaten or scolded. Those who worked more could get bonuses. As long as they worked hard, they could live a good life.

But when he left, everything was gone.

Li Wei was stunned. He understood this. People who have no hope will be confused, but if they have hope, they will try their best to grasp it.

He was the hope of these people, but he chickened out.

"Master Lu, are you afraid of death?"

Li Wei took a deep breath and asked softly.

Luti was startled, and after being silent for a long time, he said quietly: "Of course I am afraid, but if I have hope, I won't be afraid anymore!"

He saw what Li Wei did in the Ordnance Bureau. The craftsmen once worshiped him like a god, and so did Lu Ti.

Although he didn't understand many things Li Wei taught, those magical creatures were real, and more importantly, Li Wei was really good to them. That kind of equal attitude from the heart was something that other officials had never seen. Never before.

When Li Wei heard this, he withdrew his gaze and stared at him for a moment. Luti smiled and did not dodge.

Li Wei whispered: "Help me collect the evidence of Xu Yong's embezzlement."

"The subordinate obeys the order."

Lu Ti agreed happily. He still didn't know that Li Wei had an order to act as the Director of Ordnance, but that didn't matter anymore.

After Li Wei finished speaking, he turned back, looked at the heads, and let out a long sigh.

He didn't explain what to do after collecting the evidence, and Luti didn't ask.

"Since you are willing to believe me, then I will take you on a journey."

Li Wei said to himself in his heart.

……

Because Li Wei had legal agency documents, the craftsmen from the Arms Bureau were quickly released, but it was impossible to rescue the beheaded ones.

However, the head did not hang forever. Li Wei forcibly removed it and gave it to the family members for burial.

After returning home, Xiaoqing helped Li Wei change out of his soaked clothes and asked Xiaoyue to boil water for him to take a bath.

Li Wei sat in the wooden bathtub. The warmth of the water dispelled the coldness on his body, but it could not warm the coldness in his heart.

Xiaoqing poured water on him and wiped him. Her delicate hand touched Li Wei's shoulder. Li Wei turned around and finally showed a smile on his face.

But only a trace.

The deaths of these craftsmen made him realize the reality. In this feudal society, people are not qualified to lie down. They either have to climb up on their own initiative, or they are stepped on by others, and they have to work hard to lift others up.

It's just that in Zhu Yuanzhang's era, the higher he climbed, the faster he died. If he wanted to reach a point where he could influence the imperial power or even subvert it, he would undoubtedly have a narrow escape.

Thinking about his previous actions of lying down repeatedly, it can be regarded as a kind of subconscious self-preservation.

It's a pity that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't allow it.

In this case, he had no choice.

Li Wei gently grabbed Xiaoqing's slender hand and asked softly: "Xiaoqing, if one day I am convicted and implicate you, are you afraid?"

Xiao Qing paused, smiled softly and said, "Since Xiao Qing has followed the master, he will be his for the rest of his life. No matter whether it is a blessing or a misfortune in the future, as long as the master is here, Xiao Qing will not be afraid."

The smile on Li Wei's face grew stronger, he reached out and ran his hands through her hair, pressed her head down, and kissed her.

……

The next day, Li Wei copied the memorial table left by Wu Bozong and attached a gift list to it.

Marrying the emperor's daughter also requires a betrothal gift. Li Wei attached the shares of the Yinminghuang Chamber of Commerce that had previously tricked Zhu Yuanzhang and the tens of thousands of dollars withheld by Laifu.

If you want to take something, you must give it first; if you want to rebel, you must first show your loyalty.

That 30% share was bought by him for [-] guan, but according to the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce's accounts last year, it must be worth at least [-] guan now, and it will only be higher in the future. It is estimated that Zhu Yuanzhang will regret it now, but I didn't lose face to compete with his future son-in-law.

The tens of thousands of money from Laifu had to be handed over. Although he had already prepared the accounts, he expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would not be able to hide this matter. If he did not pursue it, it did not mean that he did not know. He must have this awareness.

Under the guidance of the officer in charge of the Ministry of Rites, Li Wei presented the confession to the eunuch and handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Apart from the nonsense about expressing loyalty and gratitude, the main thing here is the gift list and the wedding date.

The wedding date has long been determined by Qin Tian Jian's divination. Now it is just a formality. The most important thing is the gift list.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw what was written above, he immediately showed a satisfied smile. This brat finally understood what was going on.

Nodding, Zhu Yuanzhang gave them a formal eunuch, and then the eunuch sent him to the harem to inform the princess that the wedding date had been decided.

After sending the eunuch away, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Wei, who was standing in front of him with his head bowed respectfully, and frowned slightly.

After thinking about it, he softly comforted: "We know about those craftsmen, but we didn't expect that the Ministry of Punishment would handle it so quickly this time. I'll arrange for someone to comfort them later, so don't take it too seriously."

Although he was responsible for this matter secretly, others had to take the blame.

"I would like to thank Your Majesty for your kindness on their behalf!"

Although Li Wei knew that Tao Youqing was a spy, he didn't know if Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he already knew.

No matter what, I have to pretend to be stupid now and pretend that all this is just a misunderstanding by Tao Youqing.

As for the accounts that need to be settled, Xu Yong has already planned it and will settle it soon. Zhang Zongyi, Lan Yu, and Li Shanchang, none of these people can escape. As for Zhu Yuanzhang, hey...

"We will be a family from now on. We don't need to be so formal. Weren't you quite bold before?"

Zhu Yuanzhang had a gentle smile on his face, which was very different from his previous attitude.

Li Wei thought about it and relaxed a little. Since Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to show his closeness, he had better cooperate.

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(End of this chapter)