The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 464: On the altar
Chen Jingke didn’t know what Ouyang Lun had done in his previous life, but judging from this life.

He deserved to die.

Although he was born into a commoner family, he was appreciated and trusted by Zhu Yuanzhang, married to a princess and presided over the Ancient Tea-Horse Road.

That is the Ancient Tea-Horse Road.

Since ancient times, Chinese civilization has had three main trade routes.

The first is the Silk Road; the second is the Maritime Silk Road, which is the voyages to the West.

The third is the Ancient Tea-Horse Road.

From the perspective of commercial interests alone, the Ancient Tea-Horse Road is the smallest of the three trade routes.

But from a political perspective, it is worth far more than the other two combined.

The reason is simple. This road is the reins for the Central Plains dynasty to control and appease the southwestern tribes and vassal forces.

This road also closely connects the geographically fragmented Southwest.

It can be said that without this road, it would be hard to say whether the southwest is part of China.

It was this lifeline that Zhu Yuanzhang handed over to Ouyang Lun for management.

This shows the respect and trust they place on it.

However, he chose to betray.

A big part of the reason why Lao Zhu was so furious was because he was emotionally hurt.

I trusted you so much, and this is how you repay me?

It is said that Empress Ma is the scabbard of Zhu Yuanzhang. If the time were changed, Empress Ma would definitely save his life.

I can't let my daughter become a widow.

But unfortunately...Empress Ma is also a political creature, and a leader among them.

She chose the most advantageous method of disposal without much hesitation.

In fact, Lao Zhu was already prepared to have a big fight with her if she persuaded him.

But she did not persuade him, instead she expressed that he must be severely punished.

This surprised Lao Zhu greatly, and the anger in his heart subsided a lot.

Ouyang Lun is just an outsider.

I can't let my loved ones suffer because of him.

So, when Chen Jingke and Zhu Xiongying arrived, they saw Zhu Yuanzhang who had regained his composure.

But those who know him know that beneath his calm appearance, there is a volcano brewing.

When the day comes that he explodes, it will take the blood of countless people to extinguish him.
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Although the decision has been made, we cannot just sit and wait for the enemy to attack us. We still need to make some fine adjustments to the overall plan.

For example, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an urgent secret letter to Jiang Li and Li Shanchang, asking them to postpone their actions.

We will wait until the Ouyang Lun incident comes to an end and the Neo-Confucian school is at its peak before taking any action.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also sent out secret agents from the Imperial Guard to investigate Ouyang Lun's background.

For such a big matter, it is impossible for the rationalist school to believe everything. We must grasp the facts ourselves.

By the time we finished dealing with these things, it was already dark.

There would be a big storm tomorrow, so Chen Jingke did not leave the palace and stayed in the cabinet to deal with it overnight.

Early the next morning, after Zhu Yuanzhang and his men had gone to court, Empress Ma sent someone to summon Princess Anqing and her children to the palace, saying that she missed her grandson.

Princess Anqing didn't know what she was about to face.

He thought his mother doted on him and was very proud of himself, so he dressed elegantly and entered the palace.

However, what she didn't know was that just as she stepped into the imperial city, Neo-Confucian officials in the court, such as Zuo Chuan and Chen Ying, impeached Ouyang Lun.

"Oppressing the people, bullying officials, smuggling... the amount that can be found is as high as more than 600,000 strings of cash..."

"The evidence is irrefutable... Your Majesty, please punish him severely..."

When the charges, especially the amount of smuggling, were announced, the court was in an uproar.

The ministers couldn't believe their ears.

If it is true, the consequences would be serious.

Even Xu Da, who was so shrewd, was so shocked that he lost control of his facial expression.

It’s not that he is short-sighted, but...well, he admitted that he is indeed short-sighted.

In the Ming Dynasty, a person embezzled more than 600,000 strings of cash from the state in ten years. This was extremely rare, if not unprecedented.

You know, Zhu Yuanzhang hated corruption the most and made the laws extremely strict. Embezzlement of 60 taels would be punishable by death.

This amount of money is enough for Ouyang Lun to die ten thousand times.

The key is at this sensitive time.

Confucianism, led by Neo-Confucianism, was competing with the emperor for control over laws and rituals.

This incident will surely become a sharp weapon for Neo-Confucianism to attack imperial power.

Those who reacted quickly have realized that the problem is more troublesome than they imagined.

No matter how the emperor handles the situation, he is bound to lose.

Execute Ouyang Lun according to the law? Then where is the dignity of your royal family?
How can you maintain your privileges in the future?
Moreover, Neo-Confucianism can tell the world that it was they who forced the emperor to do so.

Executing Ouyang Lun was tantamount to surrendering to Neo-Confucianism.

Save Ouyang Lun? That would be a complete loss of morality.

Once the imperial power loses the halo of righteousness, the consequences will be serious.

Moreover, today you ignored the law and saved Ouyang Lun.

If someone breaks the law in the future, will you still be able to deal with them with a clear conscience?
The atmosphere that has been corrected with great difficulty will deteriorate again and will be worse than before.

In other words, this is a losing game.

The Ming Dynasty has been established for thirty years, and now the people have won over the country and its destiny is stable.

There is no shortage of loyal people in the court.

Seeing that the imperial power was facing such a challenge, these people all looked worried.

Especially the noble group, who have a relationship of shared success and failure with the Ming Dynasty, and they can't wait to jump out and kill Zuo Chuan and others on the spot.

Faced with the attack from the Neo-Confucian school, Lao Zhu seemed to be caught off guard and did not speak for a long time.

Zhu Xiongying looked like he was about to rush out, but Chen Jingke held him back.

Zuo Chuan and others were even more proud, as they had made the right bet again this time.

With their morale boosted, they once again urged Zhu to express his position.

At this time, Lao Zhu finally spoke, and said in a strange tone:
"Is this... true?"

Zuo Chuan said loudly: "The Lantian County Inspector is outside the palace. There are several other witnesses and more detailed evidence. They are all outside the palace at the moment."

"If your majesty does not believe it, you can summon them into the palace for interrogation on the spot."

Old Zhu was silent for a long time again before he said, "Hand over all the witnesses and evidence to the Jinyiwei..."

As soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Zuo Chuan: "Your Majesty, according to national law, such an important case should be tried by the three courts."

"Besides, the Jinyiwei are just the emperor's personal army. Since ancient times, has it ever been the case that the emperor's personal army is in charge of judicial affairs?"

At this time, Zhao Qian, the director of the Imperial Academy and the person in charge of the princes' training, stood up and rebuked:

"Minister Zuo, you keep talking about the law of the land. Which law of the land allows you to be so disloyal to the emperor?"

Zuo Chuan retorted: "Sir Zhao, please stop slandering me. When have I ever been disloyal?"

"Does it mean I am disloyal if I advise the emperor to do the right thing?"

"It is you, Zhao Siye, who, as the Minister of the Imperial Academy, cannot correct the mistakes of the monarch and only flatters him. You are the real traitor."

So the two of them started arguing, and more and more people joined in.

If one party thinks that the other party has no king or father, it is disloyalty.

The other party believed that they were correcting the monarch's mistakes and turned around to accuse the other party of being a treacherous minister who only knew how to flatter.

However, in terms of numbers, those loyal to the imperial power still prevail.

Even some officials of Confucian origin stood on the side of imperial power.

But those led by the Neo-Confucian school always consider themselves to be moral.

Although they were outnumbered, their voices were very loud.

For a while, the two sides were arguing fiercely.

Old Zhu's face turned ashen and his eyes seemed to be spitting fire.

If it had happened in the past, everyone would have been frightened into silence.

However, he was challenged repeatedly recently, but he only got angry and didn't kill anyone, which made him look like a coward. Slowly, everyone's fear of him began to weaken, and many people even thought that he was nothing special.

This time was no exception, and everyone simply ignored his angry expression.

Zhu Xiongying and Chen Jingke knew, however, that their previous anger was just pretense.

This time, Lao Zhu is really angry and may explode at any time.

The two of them couldn't help but worry, fearing that he would lose control and ruin the plan.

But obviously, they overthought it.

Old Zhu had been through all kinds of storms, and this kind of situation would not make him lose his mind.

So he stood up, snatched the crossbow from the guard next to him, and aimed it at the ministers.

Now, the ministers were finally scared and knelt down to confess their crimes.

Old Zhu sneered: "I thought you guys were so tough that you weren't afraid of death."

The ministers were silent.

Old Zhu slowly put down the crossbow and said firmly:

"The Jinyiwei is responsible for this matter... We will give an explanation to the people of the world."

After speaking, he turned and left.

Chen Jingke and Zhu Xiongying also left soon after.

Then, Xu Da also led a group of noble generals and left.

However, the eyes of these generals when they looked at Zuo Chuan and others were full of murderous intent.

Some of these people were afraid.

Some people disagree and say that when we are in power, we will trample you bastards under our feet.

Soon only civil servants were left in the hall.

These civil servants were also divided into three factions.

One group was led by Qiu Guangan and Shang Xishao, who just stood up and reprimanded Zuo Chuan and others.

One faction was the neutral faction headed by Cabinet Scholar Wang Qi. They favored imperial power but did not stand up at the critical moment.

The last faction is the "moral" faction headed by Zuo Chuan.

The key point is that among these people, two figures appeared, Cabinet Scholar Liu Xiao and Zhao Shucai.

Just now the two of them remained silent, but after leaving the court, they took the initiative to show goodwill to Zuo Chuan and others.

Maybe it’s not a gesture of goodwill, but they are the ones behind Zuo Chuan.

At this time, these people were very proud and proud, and they didn't care at all that this was the Huagai Palace, and they were making loud noises.

Looking at these people, Shang Xishao said with hatred: "They are treacherous and corrupt and have brought disaster to the country."

He was a conservative, but a staunch loyalist to the emperor, and he hated the idea of ​​forcing the emperor to abdicate and seize power.

Qiu Guangan said: "You can defy the will of heaven, but you cannot survive the evil you bring upon yourself. Just wait and see."

Shang Xishao stared at him and asked, "You have a close relationship with the Marquis of Anping, but what rumors have you heard?"

Qiu Guangan shook his head and said, "No, but who is the emperor? How could he allow these people to run rampant?"

“Although I don’t know what happened, I always feel that…”

At this point, he suddenly realized something, laughed and said:
"It took the Emperor several years to get the relationship between the monarch and his subjects in order. Perhaps the Emperor Retired does not want to disrupt this situation."

"Once he finds out this doesn't work, he will definitely resort to drastic measures."

Shang Xishao had a thoughtful expression. He could tell that Qiu Guangan was not telling the whole truth.

But this is normal.

In this position, who would speak from the heart to others?

Do you want to be ripped out of your heart?

However, Qiu Guangan's statement that "the emperor emeritus is learning from the emperor" does make sense.

We have all experienced the extent to which the relationship between the emperor and his subjects deteriorated during the Hongwu Dynasty.

It took Emperor Jianzhang five or six years to reshape the bureaucratic system.

The emperor probably chose to be tolerant because he did not want to ruin this good situation.

After all, as the founding monarch, he certainly does not want the government to be in turmoil all the time.

but……

After all, the emperor emeritus is an emperor on horseback. He is good at being decisive and swift, but not at being gentle and persuasive.

Now he has gone from one extreme to another.

He used to rule with an iron fist, but now he is too gentle.

Once the monarch loses his majesty, his subjects will bully him.

Thinking of this, he sighed and said, "I hope your majesty can wake up this time, otherwise..."

At this point, he said solemnly, "I am about to go to the palace to advise His Majesty. Does Minister Qiu dare to go with me?"

Qiu Guangan smiled and said, "Don't provoke me. I will bring Anping Hou with me."

"If he doesn't go, I'll tie him up with a rope and go over there."

Shang Xishao finally smiled and said, "Okay, I knew that Minister Qiu is a righteous man of the country."

The two of them glanced at the ostentatious Zuo Chuan and others, turned around and left the palace through another city gate.

Naturally, someone told Zhu Yuanzhang everything that happened after the court session ended.

Old Zhu sneered, "Liu Xiao and Zhao Shucai, have you finally been unable to hold back and jumped out?"

Zhu Xiongying said angrily: "I will kill those ungrateful people."

"And Wang Qi, he is trying to protect himself, right? Then I will make sure he has no way to protect himself."

Chen Jingke said: "I am not surprised that the two of them made such a choice."

"What surprised me was Master Shang."

Liu Xiao was promoted from the position of Dali Temple Minister, and Zhao Shucai was promoted to the cabinet from the position of Minister of Rites.

Both of them were Confucianists, and Zhao Shucai was a master of Neo-Confucianism, who was always critical of reforms.

Zhu Biao will allow them to join the cabinet, firstly to supervise the reformists, and secondly to appease the conservatives.

It is normal that they are now colluding with the Neo-Confucian school.

Shang Xishao was also a leading figure in the Neo-Confucian school. He was even more conservative than Liu Xiao and Zhao Shucai in his daily lives, and was always critical of any change.

This time, instead of standing with the Neo-Confucian school, he took the initiative to stand up and safeguard the imperial power.

"So, it doesn't matter which school you belong to. What matters is human nature."
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As expected, what happened in the court spread throughout Luoyang City at an extremely fast speed again.

And quickly spread across the country.

The people were in an uproar again, and voices of condemnation and abuse were heard everywhere.

They even blindly praised the School of Reason, regarding it as the messenger of justice and the guardian of morality.

On the contrary, there was great controversy among the scholar group.

Many scholars believed that although Ouyang Lun committed a crime, you cannot force your king and father like this.

How is this different from Ouyang Lun?
But unfortunately, they lack channels to express their opinions and are not united.

There is almost no room for resistance in the face of the group-based rationalist school.

The new issue of the newspaper also published this matter.

The influence it brings is even greater.

As if feeling the pressure from outside, the Jinyiwei moved very quickly.

More than ten days later, Ouyang Lun was escorted to Beijing.

Twenty days later, all the evidence was sent back to the capital.

All the impeachment charges of the Neo-Confucian school were true, and Ouyang Lun's crimes were even worse than what they impeached him for.

The amount of smuggling reached 840,000 strings of cash.

The evidence was irrefutable. No matter how Princess An Ning begged or how Ouyang Lun repented, they could not change Zhu Yuanzhang's will.

Ouyang Lun was executed immediately, all his immediate relatives were killed, and his collateral relatives were exiled overseas.

On the day of the execution, tens of thousands of people came to watch, and the situation almost got out of control.

With the execution of Ouyang Lun, the Neo-Confucian school officially ascended to the altar.

(End of this chapter)