Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 167 He Becomes the Bad Guy

Kaifeng is only more than 500 kilometers away from Yingtian Prefecture. It can be said that apart from Zhu Yunwen, who is not a serious vassal king, King Zhou Zhu Su is the vassal king closest to the emperor.

Although he brought his wife and a small number of guards, Zhu Su's speed was not slow. This was not the case that the army could only travel a few dozen miles a day. His plan was to rush back to Yingtianfu within five days. Something big must have happened, otherwise he would not have recalled all the princes.

Big things have nothing to do with King Zhou, because he thinks he has not made any mistakes in the past two years.

Go back and get the news first, so that you can judge the situation. The most important thing is that as the King of Zhou, Zhu Su is not too afraid of Old Zhu, and now he has a good relationship with his nephew, so he has nothing to fear.

Zhu Yunhuan received the message with a smile on his face and hurried to find Old Zhu, "Fifth Uncle will be back in the next two or three days, just like Second Uncle."

Zhu Chong had already run away a few days ago, and he brought even fewer people with him. Zhu Su's advantage was that they were closer, so they were able to return one after the other.

Old Zhu started to have a headache, but also found it a little funny. "Your fifth uncle still hasn't changed his temper. He has always been homesick since he was a child. If he ever sneaks back to his hometown, don't punish him too harshly."

"Uncle Wu is a wise king, a real wise king, except that he likes to go out and run around." Zhu Yunhuan said with a smile, "Next time if he sneaks back, I will send someone to stop him. If I can't stop him, I will issue an order before the court officials know about it."

Old Zhu thought it made sense, but he still said, "It doesn't matter if he goes back to his hometown or goes out to play, but he can't go to the royal family and the generals. You know these things, so don't let him know. Your fifth uncle is used to being arrogant. There's no way to deal with him since he arrived. The good boy has been spoiled by your grandmother."

As the representative of the first generation of the Ming Dynasty's dandy royal family, Prince Zhu Su still has some troublesome aspects. But fortunately, he has no ambitions, no threats, and does not disturb the people. He just enjoys life, which makes him a "virtuous king".

Old Zhu looked at Zhu Yunhuan and said, "The method you mentioned earlier cannot be completed in one go."

Zhu Yunhuan also understood this truth. "Let's not talk about other things. In the past two years, my uncles have been enfeoffed one after another. It would be unfair to evaluate them. And the evaluation method must be more detailed, so as not to make it difficult for my uncles."

Old Zhu was worried about this matter. His sons were capable and had status, but these descendants of the Zhu family were not officials after all, so some new standards needed to be established for their evaluation.

In fact, someone like Zhu Su may have met the standard 100%, or even exceeded it a little.

Even if he is a mediocre prince who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun, he is still excellent for a prince, as long as he is worry-free.

"Second uncle is definitely not okay, he must be punished a little bit." Zhu Yunhuan continued, "If Fifth uncle leaves the fiefdom without permission again, I have to protect him on the surface, but I will definitely punish him in private. I think the uncles are brave, it's nothing more than their noble status, and also because they know that grandfather loves them."

Old Zhu agreed and said, "That's right, your uncles really spoiled us!"

Zhu Yunxun sighed and said, "I thought of this evil idea because I am afraid of the future. My uncles are fine, but what about my younger brothers? What about my nephews and nieces? If I don't set some rules, I'm afraid they will become even more rampant. Looking through the history books, there are not a few princes who have done evil."

Old Zhu originally wanted to say that the descendants of the Zhu family were more than that, but when he thought about the bad deeds of his sons, he was speechless. He blushed when he said it, so it was better not to say it.

After thinking it over carefully, Lao Zhu said, "I will set the rules so that you don't have to make things difficult for me."

Zhu Yunhuan started laughing immediately and seemed very satisfied with this role positioning. It was indeed more worry-free for Zhu Yunhuan to set the rules.

Old Zhu rolled his eyes at Zhu Yunhuan, then said, "I have to be the one to deal with the bad guys this time. We are going to destroy your second uncle, and you come out to protect him."

Zhu Yunxun asked worriedly, "Grandfather, will this trick still work on my uncles?"

Crown Prince Zhu Biao was well-known for his love for his younger brothers. When Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to depose Prince of Qin Zhu Chong, it was Crown Prince Zhu Biao who saved him. When Prince of Jin Zhu Gang made a mistake and was almost deposed by Zhu Yuanzhang, it was Crown Prince Zhu Biao who mediated. When Zhu Su made a mistake and was almost deposed, it was Zhu Biao who stepped in to protect him.

Old Zhu said confidently, "It will definitely work. Your second uncle made such a big mistake this time, others will definitely believe it. Not only did you save your second uncle, you also protected him. Your other uncles also saw it."

One plays the good cop and the other plays the bad cop. This tactic still works in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor plays the role of the villain. The crown prince naturally plays the role of the benefactor. Everyone is very familiar with this routine.

Old Zhu suddenly remembered something and said, "This matter originated from your second uncle. He deserves the punishment. Your other uncles are innocent, so it's not easy for us to say anything."

Zhu Yunhuan suddenly looked at Old Zhu suspiciously, "Grandfather, don't be like this!"

Old Zhu was not embarrassed and said cheerfully, "Call Yunwen back. It's not the first time that he has offended people. He is a junior, so it's reasonable for him to be criticized by his uncles."

Zhu Yunhuan didn't know what to say. In fact, he was also thinking about his good brother. The wise king of the Ming Dynasty needed to take responsibility at this time and put forward some suggestions that would benefit the country and the people.

It seems that Zhu Yunhuan was not the only one who thought of this. Old Zhu also thought of his grandson who performed well, which was indeed useful at this time. A good emperor and a good grandson, that's all right. But there is also a prince who is used to offend the royal family, which is also very good.

As for the injured clan members, they had no other choice but to scold Zhu Yunwen, even though they knew who was in charge. But the person who nominally proposed these things was the culprit.

Forget it, Zhu Yunhuan would not say anything more about this, because he knew that it was useless to say anything. He had this kind of idea in the first place, it was just someone else who brought it up, so he just let it go.

Members of the royal family all have their own responsibilities, and I believe Zhu Yunwen is also very clear about his current position.

Whether he is willing to accept this role arrangement or not, he has to accept it and cannot even express any dissatisfaction to others.

After a brief discussion with Old Zhu, Zhu Yunhuan still had a lot of things to do.

A lot of uncles returned to Yingtian Prefecture. The fastest ones were Zhu Su and Zhu Chong. The slower ones were Zhu Chun and others, who must not have received the imperial edict yet. So for a long time to come, they had to prepare for the reception, especially since there were many princesses returning this time, and they all needed to arrange some things.

Old Zhu naturally wouldn't worry about these things, Zhu Yunhuan theoretically had to make arrangements. His two sisters certainly couldn't help much with this matter, so he could only let Concubine Guo Ning come forward to do something again.

Zhu Yunhuan didn't intend to worry too much about these things. If he had to do all these things himself, he would not be able to handle government affairs every day. These trivial matters in the palace were enough to exhaust him.

He was still concerned about some other things, such as a series of evaluation methods for the royal family, some rectification of the official administration, including treasure notes, spring ploughing and a lot of other things. These were all things he needed to care about, and these were not small matters.

When Monk Daoyan saw Zhu Yunhuan, he said, "Your Highness, is there anything important that the princes have returned to Beijing for?"

Zhu Yunhuan laughed and joked, "Grandfather is now so strong that he can kill a cow. I haven't even got married yet, so what big thing can happen to me?"

Daoyan was also choked by this. In the past few days, there had been quite a lot of noise about issuing imperial edicts to summon the princes back to the capital. Daoyan and others had helped draft the imperial edicts and archive them, so they naturally knew about this.

Zhu Yunhuan said, "We should not leave King Wulin behind when summoning him back to the capital. This would be a bit bad."

Daoyan felt that this matter seemed even more unusual, but he didn't know what had happened.

I would have subconsciously thought that the emperor was in poor health, after all, he had been "sick" for most of the past year. Or maybe the crown prince performed well and managed the government in an orderly manner, so the emperor might have thought about abdicating.

But now it seems that this is not the case at all. Maybe the emperor and the crown prince have discovered something and want to call back all the royal family members to give them a warning.

Zhu Yunhuan thought about it and briefly explained the matter to Daoyan, "Master, I plan to evaluate all the royal family members. How do you think I should evaluate them?"

Daoyan's heart also began to beat fast. He really could not imagine that such a ridiculous thing would happen to the King of Qin, the leader of all the royal princes.

As for the Crown Prince's plan to evaluate the royal family, Daoyan was not surprised at all, because in the past two years, the Crown Prince had used many small actions and tricks to continuously weaken the treatment of the royal family.

Daoyan thought about it carefully, then smiled and said, "Your Highness, this is a tough job, and it's thankless."

"It's good for the country and the people, that's all." Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said without question, "It's also a good thing for us, the Ming royal family, in the long run."

Daoyan, a smart man, knew that what Zhu Yunhuan said made sense. In the final analysis, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty was treated too well. If it continued to be so good, some people might become obsessed and make big mistakes.

Even if such things cannot be avoided, it is good to limit them if possible and reduce the probability of such things happening.

Daoyan thought about it carefully and said, "Your Highness, I think if we want to restrain the royal family, we must make the royal princes fearful."

Zhu Yunhuan agreed and said, "But we must be flexible and not overly coercive. After all, the royal family is the royal family."

Daoyan couldn't help but glance at Zhu Yunhuan and said, "I understand."

It is definitely not okay to just show favor, but it is not good to just use pressure either. You need to find the best balance.

(End of this chapter)