Ming Dynasty: The ghost betrays the Confucian sage, my son Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 267 Zhu Yuanzhang deposed the prime minister, and the Hu Weiyong case broke out

South Korean Duke Li Shanchang returned to the capital after a long journey. As soon as the news came out, officials of all sizes in the court went to visit the senior prime minister one after another. However, unexpectedly, Li Shanchang thanked the guests behind closed doors. No one, not even the prominent Huaixi nobles, or even the Prime Minister of the Left, Hu Weiyong, came to the door in person, could meet him.

The steward of the Prime Minister's Mansion announced a piece of news: In five days, the Prime Minister will marry a new concubine and invites everyone to the wedding banquet. Hu Weiyong stood in front of the gate of the Han Dynasty, frowning, and his heart was full of confusion, and he did not understand the deep meaning of the old prime minister's move.

Five days flew by.

The Han Dynasty's palace was decorated with lanterns and colorful, and there was a lot of people. In order to celebrate the new concubine of the old Prime Minister Li Shan, a big banquet was held and relatives and friends were invited. Huaixi nobles and many courtiers came to congratulate him. Li Shanchang wore a bright red groom's official robe and entertained the guests with a smile on his face. Hu Weiyong finally met his long-lost mentor at this moment. The two sat down to drink tea and chatted happily.

"Congratulations to the old Prime Minister." Hu Weiyong raised his glass with a smile, "Your life is really the envy of your subordinates."

"Hahaha," Li Shanchang laughed heartily, "The emperor asked me to enjoy the blessings. This is a life of return and support. It must have the appearance of a return to support. Since it is to enjoy blessings, then the beauty and happiness are naturally blessings. You don't have to think about it, you "Tell me, will those censors say that I, Li Shanchang, have fallen into disgrace?"

"Old Prime Minister, don't you just want the censors to impeach you?" Hu Weiyong smiled slightly and saw through Li Shanchang's thoughts.

"Wei Yong, you still understand me." Li Shanchang nodded in approval, "Yes, I just want everyone in the government and the public to think that I have degenerated. Hey, if I don't degenerate, people will worry."

The two of them looked at each other and smiled. They already understood many things without saying anything.

"Why is this?" Zhu Biao frowned.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not answer and just drank his tea. Fourth Master Zhu smiled: "Hu Weiyong, a smart man, is still a little behind compared to Li Shanchang, an old fox."

The father and son knew each other well, and Fourth Master Zhu was giving Zhu Yuanzhang the maximum space and time to do the next thing, so that those who wanted to find the Supreme Emperor would stop thinking about it.

"It may be that the Ministry of Rites was negligent. A total of five people from the Champa State delegation have arrived in our country for more than a month, but no court officials have received them yet." Mao Xiang continued to report cautiously, "They had no choice but to choose an inn to stay. . Today they visited Lingyin Temple and were shocked by its magnificent architecture. They mistakenly thought it was the imperial palace and wanted to go inside to pay their respects to His Majesty."

This day.

Fourth Master Zhu was drinking tea with Zhu Yuanzhang, and the father and son were talking about planting plans for corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. At this time, Prince Zhu Biao came to report: "Grandpa, father, Li Shanchang is holding a big wedding banquet today. This Korean prince is very old, and everyone knows that he takes a concubine."

At this time, Mao Xiang, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, hurried over and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang respectfully: "Your Majesty, my men encountered two foreigners from Southeast Asia in Lingyin Temple. After inquiry, I learned that they were actually envoys from the Champa Kingdom. I was sent by the monarch of the Champa Kingdom to travel thousands of miles to pay tribute to the Ming Emperor."

……

Zhu Biao frowned slightly, knowing that his grandfather and father deliberately did not tell him why, and he needed to figure it out on his own. He bowed and retreated. Fourth Master Zhu looked at Zhu Biao's back and asked Zhu Yuanzhang: "Do you plan to let the prince handle the next matter?"

"Kindness is of no use!" Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly, "If he were an ordinary person, kindness might be a good virtue, but he is the prince of the Ming Dynasty and the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty. If he only knows kindness, he will be taken advantage of. "

"Of course, he is the prince." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked on the imperial road without saying a word. Wang Jinghong, who was following him, knew that at this time, His Majesty encountered a problem and could not solve it for a while.

"Biao'er is kind at heart, it's really embarrassing for him." Fourth Master Zhu sighed softly.

"That's good." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

In fact, he agreed with Zhu Yuanzhang's idea. As an emperor, he cannot be merciful. He waved his hand: "Starting from tomorrow, I have announced that I will be in seclusion in the back mountain of the academy. No one should bother me."

Fourth Master Zhu frowned.

Zhu Yuanzhang stopped and frowned: "How could I not know about the visit of an envoy from the Champa Kingdom?"

After the wedding banquet, Li Shanchang stood alone in the corridor, frowning and deep in thought. He whispered to himself: "Your Majesty has recently added a bachelor of palace. It seems that Hu Weiyong, the independent prime minister of Zhongshu Province, will face a catastrophe, and he doesn't know it yet. I have to think of a way to protect myself."

Imperial Palace, Qianqing Palace.

……

"Humph, you are still smart. He took the initiative to return to the capital to retire." Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, "He did it for us to see, to make us feel at ease."

"I am not a Bodhisattva in the temple!" Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he heard this. "What on earth is going on? The Champa State's envoys traveled thousands of miles to visit, and they were supposed to be the distinguished guests of the Ming Dynasty. The court has clearly stipulated that envoys from foreign countries must Once you enter the Ming Dynasty, you should enjoy the courtesy of the prince. Why is it that no one cares about it? What are the officials in the Ministry of Rites doing?

After scolding him, a sharp light suddenly flashed in his eyes.

At the court meeting the next day, Zhu Yuanzhang severely questioned the Ministry of Rites about the reasons for the neglect of the Champa State mission. Tao Kaicheng, the Minister of Rites, knelt down in fear and responded: "Regarding the visit of the Champa State delegation, the Ministry of Rites reported it to the Zhongshu Province at the beginning of this year. I thought that the Zhongshu Province would appoint relevant ministers to receive it." Hu Weiyong retorted coldly. : "The Zhongshu Ministry of Education has never received any report from you on this matter."

Tao Kai eagerly defended: "To report to the emperor, I have a copy of the memorial in hand as proof. During the period when Prime Minister Hu was in power, there was a strict order that the Ministry of Rites was not allowed to go overboard when dealing with matters such as visits from overseas missions or overseas monks coming to worship Buddha in the Ming Dynasty. Zhongshu Sheng reported directly to the emperor. Otherwise, it would be considered illegal. Because of this, I failed to report the matter directly to the emperor."

Hu Weiyong saluted Zhu Yuanzhang solemnly: "Your Majesty, the Zhongshu Province, as a bridge connecting the emperor and various departments, is responsible for uploading, issuing, and overall coordination. This is the charter formulated by you, the emperor. If the Zhongshu Province fails to fulfill this responsibility, That would be a failure on our part.”

Tao Kai became more and more anxious: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites has indeed reported this matter to the Zhongshu Province, but it has not been approved for a long time. I am indeed innocent in this matter."

Hu Weiyong glared at Tao Kai: "It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites to receive overseas missions. Even if the approval from the Ministry of Education is not received, the Ministry of Rites should take the initiative to send personnel to urge them and learn more about the specific arrival time and other information of the Champa State mission. , then report it. This is their duty. Why did the envoy stay in the inn? This is obviously the Ministry of Rites' dereliction of duty!"

"That's enough!" Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted angrily, his eyes as sharp as knives, "The envoys from the Champa State traveled thousands of miles to visit with sincerity, but we ignored them and allowed them to live on the streets. This is simply detrimental to our national dignity! And our Chinese The Prime Minister of the Ministry of Education and the Minister of Rites are pushing and blaming each other. There is no trace of the style of a minister of the Zhu Kingdom! "

The emperor's anger silenced the officials. Zhu Yuanzhang looked around and ordered coldly: "Listen to the order! Take Hu Weiyong and Tao Kai to the prison of the Criminal Department, and severely punish them after the truth comes to light!"

Hu Weiyong was stunned. He never expected that he would be imprisoned for such a trivial matter.

……

Prime Minister Hu Weiyong was imprisoned, shocking both the government and the public. However, some ministers believed that as long as the emperor found out what happened to the envoys from the Cacheng Kingdom, he would naturally let Hu Weiyong go. But what they didn't expect was that Jin Yiwei captured two Japanese people at Hu Weiyong's residence while investigating the case. After interrogation, they learned that the two Japanese people turned out to be Japanese pirates.

This matter has become a big deal. Prime Minister Hu Weiyong secretly communicated with the Japanese pirates. What did he want to do? Soon, Jinyiwei found a letter he wrote to Emperor Beiyuan in Hu Weiyong's mansion, asking Emperor Beiyuan to send troops.

Therefore, Hu Weiyong's conspiracy became obvious. He was plotting a rebellion. He colluded with Beiyuan and the Japanese pirates externally, and colluded with a large number of ministers internally, such as Zhongcheng Tujie and the imperial censor Chen Ning.

Hu Weiyong is dead! The ministers filed petitions to impeach Hu Weiyong one after another, impeaching him for dozens of serious crimes. Those who are usually close to Hu Weiyong spare no effort to impeach him, for fear that Hu Weiyong will implicate them.

……

Jin Yiwei ordered him to prison.

Screams kept ringing. Jin Yiwei had recently captured many of Hu Weiyong's associates and were being tortured. It is said that Jin Yiwei had more than a hundred punishments. Entering here would be more uncomfortable than death.

Fourth Master Zhu came in. Mao Xiang, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, was interrogating Chen Ning, the imperial censor. When he saw Fourth Master Zhu arriving, he quickly went up to greet him and said, "Meet the Supreme Emperor."

"Mao Xiang, you must be very busy recently." Fourth Master Zhu asked with a smile.

"They are all doing things for the imperial court." Mao Xiang smiled and asked doubtfully, "Didn't the Supreme Emperor go into seclusion? Why did you come to the prison? Is there something you need to do?"

Fourth Master Zhu glanced over and asked, "I heard that two Japanese pirates were captured at Hu Weiyong's residence? Take me to have a look."

Mao Xiang immediately took him to a cell, where two Japanese men were shouting and looking very angry. Fourth Master Zhu walked in, raised his hand and slapped each of them. Their teeth flew out of their mouths instantly, and they immediately became honest.

"I asked, and you guys answered truthfully." Fourth Master Zhu said in a deep voice.

"Yes!" The two Japanese nodded quickly.

"Who sent you here? What are you here for?" Master Zhu asked.

"We were sent here by the great general Ashikaga Takauji." One of them replied, "We were sent to secretly investigate the detailed information about the Ming warships and artillery. The general wanted to build such ships and artillery in Japan."

That's it!

Fourth Master Zhu asked in detail about the current situation in Japan, and then left the Jinyiwei Prison. Mao Xiang followed him and asked doubtfully: "Your Majesty, does your Majesty have any new instructions?"

"No, you handle your case." Fourth Master Zhu waved his hand.

……

Ps: The new book "Da Ming: Lu's poisonous emperor's grandson?" "The Twelve Talisman of the Beginning", with the support of the brothers who are still here, please read it.

(End of this chapter)