Ming Dynasty: Zhu Biao's younger brother, the most rebellious son in history

It's not that it will violate the law or anything like that, but on a moral level, people will criticize you.

Xu Miaoyun was soft-hearted. She couldn't bear to see a family die out. "Dad, is there no other way? Lord Liu is quite famous in the officialdom, and he is selfless and favored by His Majesty. Will His Majesty implicate Lord Liu for what his son did?"

Facing Xu Miaoyun's question, Xu Da could see more clearly. He smiled and said, "This is your Majesty's problem. It has nothing to do with your daughter. What you should consider now is not others, but yourself."

"I?"

Xu Miaoyun didn't understand why Xu Da said that.

But now when Xu Da said she had a problem, she did not refute, but sat in the chair and listened quietly.

"Yes, that's you."

Xu Da put his hand on the armrest of the chair and pointed his index finger at Xu Miaoyun: "What do you think in your heart? Do you want to seek a fair and reasonable result? Although Zhu Kai does things erratically and unreasonably, and does a lot of things in Yingtian Prefecture, he has a good grasp of the scale of some things. What he is doing is changing the Ming Dynasty, so when he does things, he will follow the rules. He must pay the taxes he should pay, and his business is also open and honest. There will be no collusion between officials and businessmen, so you are influenced by him when you do things, and do everything according to the rules."

"However, not everyone in Ming Dynasty follows the rules like Zhu Kai does. He promoted the development of commerce in Ming Dynasty and made Your Majesty gradually realize the importance of commerce. The development of commerce easily breeds corruption, and Your Majesty hates corruption. Therefore, Your Majesty is very strict in supervising this area. Your Majesty may have known about what Liu Wenfu did outside, but he just hasn't found a suitable opportunity to deal with it."

Zhu Yuanzhang knew about this? Xu Miaoyun frowned.

If Zhu Yuanzhang knew, no matter what she did, it would not affect the final outcome.

Liu Wenfu is doomed to die!
But then, Xu Miaoyun raised a new question: "But, but Your Majesty, why don't you deal with this matter? Didn't you say that Your Majesty hates corruption?"

"I said, this is His Majesty's business, not yours. You don't need to think about it."

Xu Da still looked calm and continued to say to Xu Miaoyun: "You should now consider how to deal with this matter, instead of thinking about how others will deal with it. Do you understand?"

Xu Miaoyun seemed to understand what he said, but she nodded: "I understand."

Seeing that Xu Miaoyun's answer was very reluctant, Xu Da was not in a hurry. He just smiled and said to Xu Miaoyun: "My daughter, whether at home or in the palace, you have only seen the very 'white' side, without so many intrigues. Your family protects you very well. His Majesty, the Queen, and the Prince are all trying their best to protect you from being targeted by the 'black' outside. But you live in the palace and are Zhu Kai's daughter-in-law. How can you not experience some things?"

"Whether it's right or wrong, you must stick to your own heart. You must understand fairness and justice. You must make your own judgment. Liu Wenfu can die, but how to ensure that Liu Song does not end up without descendants and that Liu Song is not unable to accept Liu Wenfu's death is something you need to consider. If His Majesty knew that Liu Wenfu had violated the law but did not deal with it immediately, what do you think he was waiting for?"

Xu Miaoyun hesitated for a while, then expressed her judgment: "Wait... wait for a result that everyone can accept?"

"Correct."

Xu Da nodded. "Liu Wenfu will be sentenced to death, but Liu Song will not be extinct. This is the final result."

As he spoke, Xu Da pointed to the position of his heart and said, "Keep your heart true to yourself and weigh the pros and cons. If you do this, no matter which way you go, you will be fine."

"I understand." Xu Miaoyun thanked Xu Da, "Thank you for clearing up my doubts, Dad."

"Haha, what's there to thank for? We are all family, and we shouldn't have different opinions."

……

Xu Miaoyun left home and then sent someone to find Liu Song's wife, telling her that if she wanted to send Liu Wenfu away, it would be better to do it as soon as possible, otherwise it would be easy for something unexpected to happen if time passed. However, Liu Song's wife had received a solemn guarantee from Lu, so she naturally did not want Liu Wenfu to go to the bitter and cold place in the north.

What is the difference between Liu Wenfu going to the northern border and being exiled?
Mrs. Liu Song, who loved her son dearly, decisively rejected Xu Miaoyun and made up an excuse to get away with it.

Seeing Mrs. Liu Song's sudden change in attitude, Xu Miaoyun also guessed the reason for her change of attitude.

Just put this matter aside and concentrate on dealing with other things.

Of course, Xu Miaoyun also knew that the relationship between her and Lu would inevitably be damaged and irreconcilable because of this incident.

But what does that matter?

The most important thing is to keep your original heart. Xu Miaoyun cannot satisfy everyone, but she must be relatively fair and just.

As for the Lu family...

She was like an ant on the hot pan. Zhu Biao did not give her a definite answer. Liu Song's wife kept asking more and more anxiously. Now she felt like she was in a dilemma.

Mrs. Lu was almost going crazy. She didn't understand. She was clearly doing this for Zhu Biao's own good, so why didn't he accept her kindness?

I clearly did nothing wrong, but why don’t people acknowledge it?

Lu thought about everyone except himself...

……

In Kunning Palace.

Ma Xiuying and Zhu Yuanzhang were in the palace, looking at the woolen cloth sent by Zhu Kai.

The woolen cloth was prepared for keeping out the cold. Zhu Yuanzhang held it in his hand, his eyes full of joy: "This cloth feels comfortable, thick and soft, and feels very warm. In the winter of our Ming Dynasty, we won't be afraid of the cold anymore."

Thinking that the woolen cloth was made by Zhu Kai, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but marvel: "Zhu Kai is really good at creating surprises. I originally thought that he could not achieve anything on the grassland, but I didn't expect him to make woolen cloth for us. Hey... This kid has found another way to make money."

"You only see how much Kai'er makes, why don't you think about how much Kai'er spends?"

Ma Xiuying rolled her eyes and said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "Let's not talk about anything else. Just look at the people Kaier recruited in Liaodong, the houses he built, the land he developed, the highway he constructed... Which one doesn't cost money?"

"...Okay, okay, I won't go after him, okay? The woolen cloth business is all owned by that bastard, I won't compete with him, okay? All the money earned is his."

Zhu Yuanzhang rolled his eyes helplessly. Ma Xiuying and Zhu Kai had already formed an alliance. Even if he wanted to get money from Zhu Kai... he could only fight alone. Zhu Biao and Ma Xiuying were both Zhu Kai's people. He had no chance at all.

Thinking of this... Zhu Yuanzhang immediately became uneasy. He thought that Zhu Kai was fighting alone, but he didn't expect that he was surrounded by Zhu Kai's people. The emergence of woolen cloth made Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying see the huge benefits contained in it. If the people had clothes made of woolen cloth, how many fewer people would freeze to death in winter?

In this respect alone, Zhu Yuanzhang can be compared with the founding emperors of Tang and Song.

But he didn't have only Zhu Kai as his son. He also had Zhu Biao, Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang, Zhu Di... Among these children, the one that worried Zhu Yuanzhang the most was Zhu Biao.

Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang and Zhu Di all followed Zhu Kai, and it was estimated that nothing would happen. However, Zhu Biao was in Yingtian Prefecture and had to take charge of many things. Some of his performance made Zhu Yuanzhang not very satisfied with him.

Especially the recent events in Liu Song’s family.

Zhu Kai once told Zhu Yuanzhang that salt and iron were related to the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty. These two things must be firmly grasped in one's hands, and no one else could get involved. Zhu Kai reminded him so seriously, how could Zhu Yuanzhang not take it to heart?

Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware of what Liu Song's son had done, but he did not deal with it immediately because he believed that there was love and reason beyond the law. It was true that Zhu Yuanzhang hated corruption, but he was not unreasonable. Liu Song had only one son, and if Liu Wenfu died, the Liu family would be extinct.

He has studied for decades and now serves the Ming Dynasty...

This would destroy his own family lineage, and Zhu Yuanzhang would never do such a thing.

It's a pity that Liu Song only thought about protecting his son, but didn't think about how to solve the problem. Zhu Yuanzhang gave them enough time. If they couldn't solve the problem by the time, Zhu Yuanzhang wouldn't care about whether they would have no descendants or not. Even if he gave you a chance, it would be useless.

"I also discovered today that Kai'er's wife is also weird."

Ma Xiuying told Zhu Yuanzhang what she saw. Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly after hearing it: "It's still Lu... giving advice to others recklessly. When the time comes, you will not be able to gain favor from the prince, and you will also lose Biao'er's prestige! How stupid!"

Zhu Yuanzhang saw the matter very clearly: "What Lu did was purely to ruin her status. Her reputation will be ruined in Yingtian Prefecture in the future. Let's see if she will still be honest then."

"By then, it will be too late."

Ma Xiuying shook her head and felt a little regretful for letting Zhu Biao marry Lu.

I originally thought that since Lu came from a scholarly family, he would be somewhat well-educated and well-mannered.

Now it seems that he is not well-educated at all, but just a troublemaker.

"Let Biaoer choose his own bride in the future, and we shouldn't ask any more questions."

"Ah."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang agreed, he did not intend to let the matter go.

Liu Song was usually a very smart person, but now he was confused, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very angry: "However, some people still need to be taught a lesson, otherwise they will forget that Zhu Yuanzhang eats meat."

Ma Xiuying was too lazy to care about what was happening in the court. She just reminded Zhu Yuanzhang not to let the people around him feel disappointed and to make all the necessary arrangements... Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Ma Xiuying's nagging and did not refute her. He just nodded in agreement. As for what would happen when it was executed, that had nothing to do with Ma Xiuying.

In ancient times, when talking about laws, it was always related to "moral governance", that is, morality was above the law. Officials from all over the country would also follow moral governance when judging cases. For example, if someone robbed in order to pay for the medical treatment of his parents or wife and children, and had no choice but to do so, when trying the case, the officials would consider the purpose of their actions. Although they would punish, they would also be lenient.

For example, Liu Song’s son Liu Wenfu.

Liu Wenfu colluded with salt field officials to sell salt permits, and even colluded with some businessmen to buy blocks of iron from blacksmith workshops and sell them secretly... To put it more seriously, Liu Wenfu was engaged in the business of reselling military equipment, and death was the least he could have committed.

If the situation gets more serious, it would be no problem for Liu Wenfu to kill all three clans.

Unfortunately, Zhu Biao did not understand the matter very clearly, and many details were hidden by Lu, so he was unable to find out all the information in time.

I have to say, what the ancients said about a virtuous wife brings less trouble to her husband is really true.

Zhu Yuanzhang had not forgotten Liu Song. After a grand court meeting, Zhu Yuanzhang left Liu Song alone and asked him to send his son Liu Wenfu to the northern border. He also hinted to Liu Song that his son was not young anymore and should get married. Didn't he make a lot of money doing business outside? It was just right for him to marry two more wives and have children quickly.

Give birth to the child... This is equivalent to Zhu Yuanzhang only giving Liu Wenfu one year. After one year, no matter whether Liu Wenfu gave birth to the child or not, his end would be death.

When Liu Song heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words, he felt as if he had lost his parents, but he did not have any chance to refute.

He didn't have the imperial seal, nor the friendship with Zhu Yuanzhang that made them conquer the world together. Zhu Yuanzhang would not give him much face. If Liu Song still begged for Liu Wenfu without knowing the consequences, the result would only anger Zhu Yuanzhang, and by then there would be no one left in their Liu family.

"Okay, let's not talk about the bad things in the court." Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, not wanting to mention the court anymore, and said to Ma Xiuying: "Winter is coming soon. We plan to go to the north before winter. Kaier has done a great job in the north. The grassland and Liaodong now have a population of nearly two million. There are construction sites everywhere. The grassland and Liaodong have become a hot land. We want to go to the north before the end of the year to see what Kaier has done."

"Row."

Ma Xiuying bit her lip and said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "If possible, I would also like to go out and have a look... Oh, and Li, Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang have all gone to their fiefdoms and cannot come back for the New Year this year. I want her to go to the north and spend the New Year with Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was reluctant that the children could not celebrate the New Year together, he also knew that the seventh year of Hongwu was a very critical year as the Ming Dynasty's reform also began in this year, so they were destined not to celebrate the New Year together this year.

However, as long as the Ming Dynasty can be built well, these sacrifices are meaningful.

"to make."

Zhu Yuanzhang was not an unreasonable man. Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang went to the northern border. Li was like a lonely old widow in the palace, and Zhu Yuanzhang would not visit her often. Instead of letting Li suffer in resentment in her boudoir, it would be better to let her and the children have a good New Year.

As for keeping Li in the palace as a hostage to prevent Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang from rebelling...

There is no need for that at all. Can these two people rebel by following Zhu Kai?

If there was any rebellion, it was Zhu Kai who rebelled, and the two of them just followed suit.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor, he had a deep understanding of family. Holding Ma Xiuying's hand, Zhu Yuanzhang said with a sigh: "This year has just begun, and we will be busy for a year. During the Chinese New Year next year, our family can be reunited again."

Next year will be more than just a reunion. There will be several more babies born in your Zhu family, right? (End of this chapter)