The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 413 What is Chen Jingke?

Facing the question, Tang He said disdainfully: "Whether he is a traitor or not, you know better than me."

"I want to ask you, who gave you the courage to force the emperor to abdicate?"

Zhou Dexing's face changed and he scolded, "Tang He, stop spitting blood at me."

"We are only here to welcome His Majesty back to the capital. When did you force him to abdicate?"

Tang He sneered, "Don't treat other people as fools. Who in Luoyang City doesn't know what you are up to?"

Li Xin, the Marquis of Chongshan, stood up and said, "Duke Xin, stop slandering us. Do you have any evidence that we are forcing the emperor to abdicate?"

Tang He pointed to his eyes and said, "My eyes are the evidence."

Li Xin shook his head and sighed, "Duke Xin, I know you have been deceived."

Tang He asked back, "Cheated? By whom? Chen Bandu?"

Li Xin said seriously: "It is Chen Jingke. He relies on the favor of the emperor and the retired emperor to act recklessly."

"After having some success by chance, he thought he was great and wanted to have a say in everything."

"Today he is targeting us... He has not even considered how his so-called reforms can be carried out without our support."

Zhou Dexing immediately pointed his gun at Chen Jingke and said, "Yes, the one who is truly ungrateful is Chen Jingke."

"Duke Xin, you and I are both nobles with the same interests. We cannot be deceived by him and use his opposition to deal with us."

Others also spoke out to condemn Chen Jingke.

They regarded him as the culprit of all the crimes and were ready to purge his court.

But at this moment Li Shanchang suddenly stood up and walked out.

Zhou Dexing asked, "Where is Mr. Han Guo going?"

Li Shanchang said without even turning his head: "What's there to talk about with a group of dying people? If you don't want to cause trouble, come with me."

After that, he left directly.

Only Zhou Dexing, Li Xin and others with grim looks were left.

Zhou Dexing tried to save his dignity by saying, "Don't pay attention to him. The relationship between Duke Hanguo and Chen Jingke..."

But as soon as he opened his mouth, Wang Bi stood up and said, "I have something to do at home, so I'll leave first. Please forgive me."

After saying this, without waiting for anyone to try to stop him, he turned around and left without hesitation.

His departure seemed to send out some kind of signal, and more than a dozen people followed him and left.

A small corner in the conference hall was suddenly vacated.

Now Zhou Dexing and the others didn’t just look unhappy, but panicked.

Tang He sneered, "Haha... do you know why everyone left?"

"You guys are really arrogant. You really think you are so great. If the Ming Dynasty is gone, you can't do anything, right?"

"Who in the world doesn't know how capable Chen Bandu is?"

"His reforms were only possible because of your support? How shameless of you to say that."

"When you said this, where did you put the emperor?"

"With the support of the emperor, what new policy can't be implemented?"

"Stop the new policy? Who dares? Do you think the Emperor's knife is not sharp enough?"

"It's not you who helped Chen Bandu, it's him who helped you."

"Without his reforms, how could there be the Ming Dynasty today?"

"If it weren't for his proposal, do you think there would be a great division? Dream on."

Zhou Dexing and others looked even more unnatural, not with shame, but with fear.

Everyone thought that Zhu Yuanzhang's life would be better after he became the emperor emeritus.

But the fact is that after abdicating, he no longer has to worry about state affairs and has more energy to fight corruption.

More killings were committed.

Not to mention ordinary officials, over the years he had executed more than twenty nobles and stripped more than a hundred of them of their titles and brought to justice.

They were just minor nobles and did not cause much impact.

But in this situation, they couldn't help but be afraid.

If he could kill minor nobles, he could kill major nobles as well. No one dared to question the emperor's murderous intention.

What's more, so many nobles have directly expressed their attitude and will stand with the emperor.

In other words, they are still a minority.

At this point, they were already regretting in their hearts why they were so high-profile.
Why take the opportunity to cause trouble?

Although the imperial court has not officially announced it yet, various previous signs have already told the world that there will be a large-scale division of fiefdoms.

We just have to wait for the emperor to come back and make the announcement.

They just couldn't wait and wanted to make a fuss at the ceremony to welcome the retired emperor back to Beijing.

Of course, they have a little trick up their sleeve.

There is limited land in Nanyang, and the number of nobles who can be enfeoffed there is limited.

Everyone wants to be among the first to be named, so the only way is to find an opportunity to show your presence.

So they connected with many nobles, and everyone went to welcome the emperor with great fanfare.

This is to highlight the existence of oneself and others.

They succeeded, and the emperor did remember them.

But... now they would rather not be remembered.

"Cough..." A dry cough sounded.

Hearing this familiar voice, Zhou Dexing and others shuddered subconsciously.

Lan Yu coughed dryly, attracting everyone's attention, and then slowly spoke:
"Marquis Jiang Xia, you are the oldest among the nobles, and everyone has always respected you the most."

"Even the Emperor has taken good care of you, and his rewards are greater than those of other nobles."

"Are your actions today worthy of the Emperor?"

Zhou Dexing's face turned red and he stammered for a long time without being able to utter any rebuttal.

Lan Yu turned his gaze to Li Xin again and said, "You said Chen Bandu slandered you?"

"I thought on the contrary, he was doing this to protect you?"

"Do you think your actions are very covert? Do you think the law does not punish everyone? Do you think the emperor will suffer this loss?"

"You are childish. The emperor will not tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes. Your actions today will definitely be punished."

"What Chen Bandu said laid everything out in the open."

"If the emperor doesn't get angry on the spot, he won't say anything afterwards."

"All of you have escaped because of this."

"Not only are you ungrateful, but you're also blaming me for what I've done. It's really chilling."

Li Xin retorted: "Protecting us? He tore his face off on the spot and advised the prince to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. Is this how he protects us?"

Others held the same idea and even thought of destroying a few vassal states to warn the other vassal states. And you still call that protection?
We cannot enjoy this kind of protection.

Seeing that they were still being stubborn, Lan Yu completely gave up on explaining.

In fact, he didn't want to talk much to these people.

It’s just that Chen Jingke doesn’t want anything to happen to anyone, so he came here to persuade them in order to help Chen Jingke.

It’s a pity that these people did not dare to blame the emperor, but instead put all the responsibility on Chen Jingke.

In that case, there is nothing more to say.

So, he got up and left immediately.

Anyone could see that he was very unhappy, which made Zhou Dexing and others feel even more depressed.

The one that everyone feared the most was naturally Zhu Yuanzhang, and the one that everyone feared the most was Lan Yu. A reckless man had his own advantages, and he was truly impartial when it came to military law.

More than half of the nobles who were punished in recent years were at his hands.

It's not that he specifically targeted the nobles, but that the nobles all came from the military and were under his management.

Moreover, many people think they have made great contributions and act recklessly, which makes them easily make mistakes.

Once you fall into Lan Yu's hands, you will basically end up in trouble.

The noble group was both wary of and hateful of him.

But no one could do anything to him.

The identity of the prince's great-uncle alone left everyone helpless.

Moreover, he and Chen Jingke have a very close relationship. Everyone in Luoyang City knows that Lan Chun and Lan Bin are half-sons of Chen Jingke.

The relationship between these two children and Princess Fuqing is better than their biological mother.

As long as the prince and Chen Jingke remain intact, Lan Yu's position will be unshakable.

At this time, he turned away and everyone was naturally worried about being retaliated against.

But what worries them more than being bullied is the consequences of forcing the emperor to abdicate.

In fact, they had already realized in their hearts that Chen Jingke was indeed helping them.

If the matter is exposed on the spot and the emperor does not get angry on the spot, it is unlikely that he will continue to target them afterwards.

Even if it moves, it won't be a big move.

Otherwise you will be accused of being intolerant.

But now they are not grateful and are even turning the tables.

Will Chen Jingke be angry when he finds out?
Given his status in the eyes of the royal trio, any word he said could cause a stir.

Xu Da, who had been silent the whole time, sighed and said, "Why bother?"

"I could have just pretended to be confused and kept quiet so that the matter would have passed. Why did you have to make such a fuss?"

He really didn't want anything to go wrong at this critical juncture, but there were always people who wanted to cause trouble.

Facing Xu Da, these people were still very respectful and quickly asked for advice:
"Duke Wei, you are the backbone of our group, please help us."

Xu Da shook his head and said, "I will say what I can, but you still need to show your attitude."

"Write a letter of apology... If possible, go and admit your fault to Chen Bandu."

After saying this, he stood up and left, followed by Tang He, Feng Sheng and others.

Only Zhou Dexing, Li Xin and more than 20 other nobles were left on the scene, and it was they who took the lead in "forcing the emperor to abdicate."

Someone asked in panic: "Marquis Jiang Xia, Marquis Chong Shan...what should we do now?"

Zhou Dexing frowned and said, "The sky hasn't fallen yet, why are you panicking?"

Wang Cheng, the commander of the Right Army, stepped forward and said, "Don't panic, everyone. The old marquis has seen all kinds of situations. It's right to listen to him."

Li Xin had a hint of worry on his face, but he still agreed:

"Yes, everyone, don't panic, just follow the old marquis's instructions."

The others also seemed to have gained a backbone, and they all said, "Yes, yes, old marquis, you make a decision."

Zhou Dexing was a little nervous at first, but after hearing the flattery from everyone, his confidence returned and he said:

"We were indeed too high-profile and displeased the emperor, but the matter is far from as serious as they said."

"Which of you has not followed the Emperor through mountains of swords and seas of fire? Even if you have no merit, you have worked hard."

"As long as we take the initiative to write a letter to admit our mistakes, the emperor will not really do anything to us."

The more people thought about it, the more they felt that there was nothing wrong with what he said. It wasn't a big deal.

If we admit our mistakes voluntarily, the most we will get is a punishment. Can the emperor kill us for this?
I was just frightened by Tang He, Lan Yu and others.

At this time, someone asked, "Where are you going, Chen Bandu?"

Zhou Dexing said disdainfully: "He just relied on his medical skills and eloquence to deceive the emperor and the emperor."

"I dare to spit in the face of such a villain."

"Admit your fault to him, who the hell is he?"

"Whoever wants to go can go... but if you don't go, don't say you know me. You can't afford to lose face."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They knew very well what kind of person Chen Jingke was.

But since Zhou Dexing had said so, they had nothing to say.

As for whether or not to go to the Chen family to admit my mistake...let's talk about it when I get back.

You can't just listen to this old guy on everything. This time he's got you in trouble.

Everyone naturally put the blame on Zhou Dexing, completely forgetting how resentful they were about the emperor breaking his promise.
-
With so many people gathered together for a meeting, it is natural that nothing can be hidden.

Zhu Yuanzhang learned the details immediately and laughed:

"Jing Ke was begging for mercy, but he didn't appreciate it and even called him a nobody."

"He should have received the news by now, right? I really want to see his expression. It must be very exciting."

Ma Niangniang held a hot water bottle to warm her hands and said, "Jing Ke is just too kind."

"It's rare that he has remained true to his original aspiration for so many years."

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "He is stupid. I have never seen such a stupid person."

"It means that we met him and treated him as one of our own."

"If it were any other royal family, they would have eaten him up long ago, leaving not even a bone behind."

Madam Ma nodded and said, "We have helped each other. Without him, there would be no Ming Dynasty today."

Then she looked at the information in her hand, frowned slightly, and said unhappily:
"But these people are really going too far. It's time to teach them a lesson."

"Especially this Zhou Dexing, he gets more confused as he gets older."

"He's 80 years old, but he doesn't want to enjoy his retirement at home, instead he comes out to cause trouble."

Since she had spoken, Old Zhu completely let go and immediately ordered an investigation into the Zhou family's situation.

See if there are any particularly serious violations of law and discipline.

By the way, investigate all the people involved in the "forcing the emperor to abdicate" and the causes and consequences.

He did not give the order to Du Tongli, but asked Jiang Li to investigate it personally.

Compared with Du Tongli, he trusted Jiang Li more, and he had become familiar with it after using it for so many years.

It’s not that I have any opinion against Chen Jingke or anything.

He trusted Chen Jingke, but he would not trust the people Chen Jingke trusted.

On the other side, Chen Jingke also knew about the remarks made by Zhou Dexing and others, but he did not make any comment on it.

He has done everything he can, and he won't stop someone if they want to die.

He's not his biological son, why does he worry so much?

The only thing that comforted him was that shortly after the noble meeting ended, more than a dozen nobles came to express their gratitude.

At the same time, I also reviewed my previous mistakes, hoping that he would not bear grudges.

Chen Jingke didn't say anything too harsh, he just told them not to act so recklessly in the future.

Then remove these people's names from the blacklist.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent Jiang Li to investigate, and he also sent Du Tongli to investigate these people.

Regardless of whether you want to teach them a lesson or not, you should prepare the evidence first to be prepared.

But when he saw the information about Zhou Dexing sent by Du Tongli, his face changed instantly.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also saw the information sent by Jiang Li, and his face suddenly turned ashen.

(End of this chapter)