Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1038 Closing the Net
"Haha, Mr. Zhu, don't panic." Facing the trembling Zhu Fu, the red-robed official with a long beard looked kind, not as ferocious as Zhu Fu imagined. "I am Fan Xianzu, and I am the counselor of the cabinet... Mr. Zhu, won't you invite me in to discuss this in detail?"

The cabinet had been established for more than ten years, and the court had gradually gotten used to this government office that replaced the prime minister's Secretariat. Zhu Fu had lived in Yingtian Prefecture for a long time, so he naturally knew the powers of the cabinet. The cabinet officials were now called "assistants", not to mention that the cabinet was now personally headed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The powers of the cabinet counselors were so great that no one in Beijing dared to ignore them.

What's more, Zhu Fu had also heard of the name Fan Xianzu.

This person had been the prince's guest since the first year of Hongwu, and was a die-hard member of the prince's family. Basically, this person's behavior represented the prince's attitude. Zhu Fu did not dare to be disrespectful. Seeing this person's attitude, he had some guesses in his mind, and immediately invited Fan Xianzu into the mansion respectfully.

Sure enough, when Fan Xianzu entered the private room, he went straight to the point and denounced his crimes.

"How dare you! You dare to privately support pirates and cut off trade routes! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has heard about this and is extremely furious! Do you still care about the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Fu knelt down in fear, but his heart had already calmed down: if he really wanted to be held accountable, the people who came to his door would be the government officials or even the imperial guards. Why did this old man call him to his private room to scare him?

Do you really think I'm an illiterate country bumpkin? Zhu Fu thought to himself, but he pretended to be terrified and speechless, trembling.

I was afraid that something unexpected happened in the court and I was lucky enough to survive.

Sure enough, Fan Xianzu changed the subject and said, "Considering that you are a distant relative of the royal family and know the seriousness of the situation and did not rob our Ming merchants, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is kind and has decided to let you off the hook."

"You must redeem yourself from your crime and tell me all the people involved in this matter. I will report this to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince... Also, stop doing that dirty business. Don't take ill-gotten gains. If you are found again, I will definitely not pardon you."

"Yes, yes." Zhu Fu nodded, looking surprised and happy. "I will keep myself clean in the future and will never get involved in this matter again..."

Fan Xianzu nodded with satisfaction, gave Zhu Fu a few more instructions, and then left.

In the carriage at the gate of the mansion, Daotong was waiting in the carriage with a hesitant look on his face. Seeing Fan Xianzu coming out of Zhu's mansion, he hurriedly asked, "How is it? What is the attitude of the Zhu family?"

"He is extremely obedient." Fan Xianzu stroked his long beard, looking very pleased. "We gave him a chance to live, and he was overjoyed. He has agreed to serve the crown prince and is willing to provide a list of names... In the future, this list can serve as a token of his loyalty. These merchants have always been close to the King of Zhou. If the King of Zhou has any other intentions, we can teach these people to bite back at the King of Zhou."

"In this way, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be able to protect the country from danger."

"..." Daotong was silent. After a while, he said, "Brother Fan, I think this is not a gentleman's behavior after all."

"Tolerating evil and not punishing the guilty is fine. Perhaps the overall situation is really inappropriate. But bribing merchants and intending to frame the prince..."

"This is really a bit too much. Your Highness Prince Zhou and Your Highness the Crown Prince are close friends. If they knew about this, it would create a rift between the brothers..."

"Hehe, you have also read history books. How can there be any family affection between brothers in the royal family?" Fan Xianzu said with a smile.

He waved his sleeves, looking like he saw through the world. "Facing the throne, how many brothers turned against each other, and how many fathers and sons became enemies? The Crown Prince is kind and does not want to be afraid of King Zhou. As his subjects, we have to be on guard for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"This is also for the sake of our Ming Dynasty. If last time, Your Majesty really had something unspeakable, and King Zhou showed his true colors and wanted to compete with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for the throne, what kind of turmoil would our Ming Dynasty face?"

Daotong was speechless. He didn't think that His Royal Highness the King of Zhou would rise up in rebellion. But he also vaguely felt that such a thing really couldn't be pinned on someone's personal character.

"Even so, you shouldn't use such a despicable method. Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knew about it, he would definitely not tolerate it..."

"The King of Zhou is cunning, and is doted on by Your Majesty... If not, how can there be any evidence against him?" Fan Xianzu said. His face showed no shame, and he even looked righteous. "Everyone knows that these merchants have a lot of connections with the King of Zhou. If the King of Zhou dares to covet the country in the future, it is just right to put the blame on him for colluding with the invaders. This is the only way to protect His Majesty the Crown Prince. His Majesty is kind, so I will do it for His Majesty... I have received great favor from His Majesty the Crown Prince, so why should I care about my life?"

"This Zhu Fu is a dagger used to deal with King Zhou... This dagger must be in our hands." Fan Xianzu said.

Daotong was speechless again. After a long while, he said slowly:
"You want to manipulate Zhu Fu to deal with His Royal Highness the King of Zhou, but I'm afraid that Zhu Fu may not be able to manipulate you."

"He is just a merchant. I can control him with just a few words...what's the difficulty?" Fan Xianzu stroked his beard and chuckled.

……

As soon as Fan Xianzu left, Zhu Fu immediately put away his flattering face and showed a thoughtful look. Seeing this, his trusted steward asked, "Master, what does this...what does this official mean? Is this matter just going to be let go like this?"

"Oh, it's not that simple." Zhu Fushai laughed and sneered at the old official who spoke in a high tone. "This man wants to stabilize us, or teach us to join the prince's army."

"That's a good thing!" The steward's spirits lifted, and he said excitedly: "If we have the crown prince's protection, then we don't have to fear King Zhou, right?"

"How can it be that simple?" Zhu Fu said. "If we join the Crown Prince, we will be doomed to have our property confiscated and our clan exterminated... We have already fallen into their hands. This Fan guy can definitely confiscate our property and exterminate our clan if he wants to. He came here to tell us that our lives and deaths are in their hands. He is here to demonstrate to us."

"That...that would be a disaster..." the manager said in a timid tone again.

"No, it's a good thing." Zhu Fu said. "I thought I couldn't escape death this time... but for some reason, the court doesn't seem to have any intention of making this matter official for the time being."

"Perhaps it's the Crown Prince and the Zhou Dynasty, or maybe it's some other incident... In any case, it has nothing to do with us. As long as the court doesn't want to investigate for the time being, we have a chance of survival."

"Just make a list and give it to the old man. Once you've made it, immediately organize your family's finances and ask the south to arrange for a ship..."

The man surnamed Fan obviously had bad intentions. Zhu Fu was ready to escape.

If there was a wanted order from the imperial court, he would have no chance to escape the Ming Dynasty's law even if he had wings; but for some reason, the imperial court had not taken any action for the time being, so Zhu Fu was ready to flee. He was a sea merchant, so he naturally knew that the distant overseas was not as desolate as most Ming people thought. If he could no longer survive in the Ming Dynasty, the worst that could happen was that he would leave the Ming Dynasty by ship.

Anyway, he has money and even pirates under his command. If he leaves the Ming Dynasty, he might be able to become a senior official.

And if he stayed in the Ming Dynasty... thinking of Zhu Su's methods, Zhu Fu didn't think that the man named Fan could protect him.

It can only be said that Fan Xianzu underestimated Zhu Su's deterrent power on these merchants and overestimated his own means.

"Also, arrange a carriage. I will go to the Ministry of Justice to pick up Junyu. From what Mr. Fan said, the Ministry of Justice has no intention of pursuing this case. In that case, Junyu is not guilty of anything."

"Once we bring him back, we will quickly leave the city and leave this place..."

Zhu Fu continued to give instructions. If you want to go to sea, you can't bring those concubines with you. In this case, this son is particularly important.

You still have to keep your own incense.

The steward agreed repeatedly. Seeing that Zhu Fu had no other instructions, he hesitated for a while and asked, "Master, what about General Dong..."

Zhu Fu stopped and said, "He is just an outsider. Why should we care about him? What does he have to do with us?"

I would rather die than let my friend die. I bribed Dong Ji just to let him avoid disaster. Could it be that I really call him a brother?
The person in charge walked away obediently.

After that, when Zhu Junyu was taken out of the prison of the Ministry of Justice, he happened to meet King Zhou... Zhu Fu was even more frightened. After returning home with his son, he immediately prepared to escape.

Zhu Su, on the other hand, received a list of people who participated in the South China Sea pirate incident from Dong Ji.

"Heh... there are quite a lot of parasites." Looking through the names of the names, Zhu Su sneered, his heart burning with anger.

The list was long, involving more than a hundred people. Among them were merchants, bribed generals like Dong Ji, and even the families of some officials... The Nanyang trade route had already secretly established a huge network of relationships that covered many people.

How many years has it been since the opening of the Nanyang Trade Route? And corruption has already developed to this point... Zhu Su sneered. If the hands of those who dared to take action were not chopped off, they would probably become even more unscrupulous in a few years.

There is no room for error on the sea route.

"Your Highness." Sanbao hesitated for a long time before he said to Zhu Su, "Your Highness, do you really want to do it yourself? I think it would be better to inform His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"You will definitely be impeached by the Imperial Envoy, that's fine. But if you start a case without authorization, won't Your Highness be..."

He hesitated.

"This king has no intention of competing for the throne." Zhu Su glanced at Sanbao and said coldly. "The Ming Dynasty needs a stable inheritance and cannot waste national strength on these unimportant things."

"No need to say more. Go and get ready."

"Yes." Sanbao lowered his head and hurried away, not daring to face Zhu Su's sharp gaze.

"...Even Sanbao thinks I can compete for the throne. It seems that leaving the Ming Dynasty is already on the agenda." Zhu Su thought to himself.

"However, before we get down to business, let me cleanse these evil spirits thoroughly."

"Your Highness, the three guards have been cleared." Di Meng came in and reported.

"Okay, you guys go." Zhu Su stood up and said.

Today, Old Zhu has left the imperial city and returned to Fengyang with his grandson Zhu Xiongying. Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and since the enemy has been alerted, who knows whether those involved will choose to hide the evidence.

Instead of going through the trouble of looking for evidence later, it is better to strike with thunder today.

The three guards of King Zhou were stationed outside Yingtian City and could not easily enter the city. Fortunately, Zhu Su just wanted to make a big fuss. Once it was exposed, the court would not be able to suppress the matter, and Zhu Biao would naturally follow up and deal with it.

Therefore, as long as the people involved outside the city were dealt with, and the confessions of these people were thrown to the Ministry of Justice or the Dali Temple, the court would naturally be unable to suppress such a shocking case.

Zhu Su stayed at the imperial manor outside the city tonight. As night fell, the three guards filed out and searched for the people on the list. Zhu Su sat in the imperial manor, waiting for the people on the list to come to the imperial manor as "guests".

"Your Highness, an informant reports that Zhu Fu and his family..." Zhu Su was waiting in the hall, feeling bored. Suddenly, Gou'er walked in and whispered something to Zhu Su.

"They left the city?" Zhu Su frowned, slightly surprised.

Could it be that those harsh words in the dungeon frightened Zhu Fu and his son into fleeing? They shouldn't have fled so quickly.

But no matter what, Zhu Fu's leaving the city is good news. It's a good opportunity to capture this guy. This guy must be one of the masterminds of the South China Sea pirates. If he can be captured, it will be much more important than others.

"Come here, mobilize a team..." Zhu Su ordered, thought for a moment, and then said, "Forget it, I'll go myself."

After saying that, he stood up and walked out of the house.

Outside the city, western suburbs.

Zhu Fu and his family sat in a carriage. The former head of the Yingtian Chamber of Commerce, who was as rich as a country, was now curled up in an ordinary carriage. In the carriage, in addition to his eldest son Zhu Junyu, there were also several boxes and cages. Zhu Fu was wearing ordinary clothes, and a dart flag was inserted outside the carriage, just like an ordinary merchant caravan.

"... Dad, this carriage is too narrow..." Zhu Junyu moved his butt awkwardly in the carriage, "Why don't you send another carriage? Also, this mattress is too hard. If I ride all the way to Guangzhou, my bones will fall apart, right?"

"Shut up!" Zhu Fu scolded his son in a low voice. "We are pretending to be a caravan transporting goods. There is no space in the caravan, how can we have a spacious carriage for you to ride in?"

"If you can't get used to it, then continue to stay in jail! I will take my men out to sea myself!"

His tone was fierce, but Zhu Junyu had lost his pride after a series of setbacks. Hearing this, he hung his head and said nothing.

He didn't dare go back to the prison, because there were all kinds of people in there... Thinking of this, Zhu Junyu covered his butt in fear.

The convoy continued to move forward. As it got farther and farther away from the city and the official road became increasingly deserted, Zhu Fu breathed a sigh of relief. The tension that had been weighing on his heart for the past few days finally eased a little.

Staying in Yingtian Prefecture, I always felt like I had one foot at the gate of hell... It was really creepy.

Zhu Fucai had just lowered the curtain and was about to lean back in his seat to relax when he heard a sudden burst of hurried horse hooves sounds outside the carriage.

(End of this chapter)