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

Chapter 1041 Thunderous Means
The people in Prince Zhou's palace were divided into two groups. Di Meng and Sanbao took those merchants who were willing to confess and provide evidence for the court to the Ministry of Justice to accuse Zhu Fu, the son of Yihui Hou and other main criminals. Zhu Su brought Gou'er and Cao Yuan to the palace and went to the East Palace to report the matter to Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

Old Zhu was not in the capital, so there was no need for the imperial court to be held early. Zhu Biao was still having breakfast in the East Palace. Seeing Zhu Su coming early in the morning, he could not help but wonder, "Fifth brother? What brought you here today?"

"Have you had breakfast yet? Come, come, have some breakfast... This is all made by your sister-in-law. When you were a child studying at the Great Hall, you liked your sister-in-law's cooking the most..."

Zhu Biao was surprised and enthusiastic, just like when he was studying in the Great Hall more than 20 years ago, he secretly brought food to the Great Hall to give his younger brothers meat. Zhu Su couldn't help but feel a warm feeling, looking at Zhu Biao's no longer young and handsome face, he sat down and said: "No need, big brother, you eat. I came here today because I have something to talk to you about."

"Hmm? What's the matter?" Seeing Zhu Su's serious tone, Zhu Biao couldn't help but put down the bowl of porridge in his hand. He straightened his back, his eyes were serious, and he looked like a ruler.

"Yesterday, I captured Zhu Fu who was trying to escape." Zhu Su said.

Zhu Biao was startled, his eyes narrowed slightly. Zhu Fu wanted to escape, there was too much information in this. He knew that Zhu Su had not finished speaking, so he just nodded and waited for Zhu Su to say the rest. Zhu Su organized his words in his mind, and then told Zhu Biao what he did last night.

"Fifth brother, are you saying that last night you arrested many merchants from other cities who were involved in the South China Sea pirate case, and forced Wei Ling and others to sue the main culprit in this case. Their petition has now been submitted to the Ministry of Justice?" Zhu Biao frowned deeply and looked into Zhu Su's eyes, but his tone did not contain the surprise that Zhu Su had imagined. Instead, he seemed calm.

"...Yes." Zhu Su nodded, feeling a little pressure.

Zhu Biao did not immediately question Zhu Su as Zhu Su had expected, asking him why he had acted without authorization. Instead, he just stared at Zhu Su for a long time. After a long time, Zhu Biao sighed, picked up the bowl of porridge again, took a sip, and said, "Fifth brother."

"Don't you believe me, brother?"

"...Why do you say that, brother?"

"If not, why would you do such a self-degrading thing?"

Zhu Su was shocked, as if Zhu Biao had seen through his appearance and got to the essence of the matter. Zhu Biao continued, "You don't have to do this. I will do it myself. These people blocked the trade route of our Ming Dynasty. Their crime is unforgivable."

"However, this matter is not an urgent matter after all. For our Ming Dynasty, Annan and the health of my father are the top priorities."

"Calm them down and delay for a few days. When everything is settled, I will naturally take action to eliminate all those who are causing trouble for the country. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there? The top priority for the Ming Dynasty today is Annan and my father's health. Who knows if there will be new major issues that need to be resolved in the court in the future?" Zhu Su expressed a different opinion.

"Since the lesion has been discovered, the sooner we remove it, the better. Are we going to wait for the lesion to grow bigger and bigger, and endanger the very origin of our Ming Dynasty?"

"...Your hatred of evil is inherited from your father." Zhu Biao shook his head and said, "Since you want to get rid of these guys, why do you use such drastic measures?"

"Bullying the people, arresting people without authorization... These crimes are enough for the imperial envoys to severely sue you in front of the emperor. This is a blatant violation of the laws of the Ming Dynasty. You are destroying your own reputation and forcing the emperor to punish you... Why do you care about a few rumors? I never thought that you would compete with me for the position of crown prince."

"My eldest brother will always be my eldest brother, so I don't want outsiders to have any chance to alienate my brothers in the Zhu family." After a long time, Zhu Su said sullenly.

Zhu Biao was speechless for a moment, lowered his head, picked up the bowl of porridge and took another sip. Then he sighed softly, as if relieved of a heavy burden, and changed the subject: "In this case, according to your idea, how should this matter be handled?"

"It's best not to alarm Father... Father's dragon body is not in good condition. If he suddenly heard about such a thing, I think he would be furious."

"Jiang Li, the commander of the Imperial Guard, is with Dad. The Imperial Guard is omnipresent. Even for Dad's health, Jiang Li might not dare to tell him about this. But if Dad asks, how could Jiang Li dare to hide it from him?" Zhu Su said. "I think, instead of doing this, it would be better for you, big brother, to cut the Gordian knot and solve this matter that makes Father uncomfortable."

"As long as we submit the result of the matter together with the report on this matter to Dad, I think he won't be too angry about something that has already been resolved."

"Of course, the premise is that you have to solve the case beautifully and flawlessly...Now the charges have been sent to the Ministry of Justice. As long as we arrest the person based on the charges, this matter can be done beautifully."

"As long as this matter is done beautifully and decisively, the old man will see it in Fengyang and will be very happy that you, brother, have done a great job." Zhu Su said.

"You have tarnished your own reputation, but gave the credit to me, the eldest brother... If the emperor knew about this, he would have skinned me alive, and he would have been happy that I did a good job..." Zhu Biao glared at Zhu Su and said.

The Ministry of Justice was under the command of Zhu Biao, the regent prince. Zhu Su had people take the charges to the Ministry of Justice instead of going to Jingzhao Prefecture or the Censorate, which undoubtedly sent the final fruit to Zhu Biao's hands.

In the eyes of the court and the public, this was also a sign of weakness from the King of Zhou Zhu Su to the Crown Prince Zhu Biao. After this incident, even if someone really wanted to support Zhu Su to ascend the throne, it was time to stop.

"This is the fastest way." Zhu Su deliberately refused to admit that he was deliberately defaming himself, and instead said something else. "Zhu Fu tried to flee with his family yesterday. If he hadn't accidentally revealed his flaws, he would have chosen to leave the city in the middle of the night, attracting the attention of my men, and he would have almost escaped from the capital with this beast."

"Zhu Fu has already intended to flee, which is enough to show that these people are now in a state of panic. Brother, you want to keep them stable and settle accounts with them later, but I'm afraid they won't do as you wish."

"In that case, why not just strike with lightning speed? It's better to suffer a short pain than a long one, and completely eradicate these evil spirits."

"Then what about those bandits they kept in Southeast Asia?" Zhu Biao said.

"We are fast enough, so these people will not have time to pass the information to the bandits. As long as we torture them to find out their hiding places, contact codes and other information, our Ming navy will be able to win big with a small effort and catch all these pirates in one fell swoop."

"Leave this matter to me. I can assure you, big brother, that these pirates can be wiped out without the court spending too much national treasury."

"Only by taking drastic measures can we warn future generations. Otherwise, those merchants will see that our court is weak and think that they can make money, so they will all suck blood from our court...Won't our Ming Dynasty repeat the same mistakes?"

Zhu Biao remembered what Zhu Su said about the situation in the late Ming Dynasty when the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan supported scholars and controlled the government. He nodded.

It is understandable why Zhu Su was so wary and hateful towards these traitorous merchants... If these merchants were left alone and allowed to act lawless, they would indeed bring great disasters in the end.

They should be beaten and frightened from time to time to ensure that they behave themselves. Zhu Biao saw the help that merchants had given to the development of the Ming Dynasty, and in order to prevent these merchants from causing harm, any clues of merchant corruption should not be underestimated.

"Alas, Zhu Fu's ancestors have a close relationship with my family. As for the Yihuihou family, they had shown great kindness to my Zhu family when my father was in humble circumstances." Zhu Biao said.

"In the early years, our great-grandfather died in a disaster. Father and our uncle, who is still missing, dragged the bodies of our great-grandfather and great-grandmother around to find a cemetery, but there was no place to bury them."

"At that time, it was the current Marquis Yihui who was kind enough to give my father a small piece of land, so that my father could bury his parents. It was also because of this favor that after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I conferred the title of Marquis Yihui on his Liu family."

"If I were to deal with this kindness carelessly, I'm afraid it would make Father unhappy. If it affects Father's dragon body, it would not be good."

"That's fine. Marquis Yihui can only punish the prince involved, Liu Tianen. Marquis Yihui has more than one son. Just let him replace his illegitimate son with another one to inherit the title. As for Zhu Fu... he is just trying to get close to me because we have the same surname. His relationship with my family dates back to the end of the Song Dynasty. Who knows if they really have the same ancestor?"

"Father is just thinking about family ties. If he knows that people like this are trying to curry favor with him, he will definitely be the first to punish them. Why would he be angry about this? Brother, just deal with it impartially. I think that as long as Father sees that you can shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Ming Dynasty, he will not be unhappy."

"You are trying to persuade me." Zhu Biao finally finished his breakfast porridge and stood up. "Forget it, you have already done it without asking for permission. I can only follow your lead and continue to do it."

"I think that compared to what you said, your acting on your own and tarnishing your own reputation is most likely to make Father angry."

"When the time comes, you will explain it to Father yourself. I will not help you this time."

Zhu Su was speechless and subconsciously shrank his neck. He felt that Zhu Biao was right, and it was possible that Old Zhu would be furious because of this matter.

As the regent prince, Zhu Biao had the power to summon court officials and hold small court meetings to announce some resolutions. As soon as he arrived at the cabinet, he saw the Minister of Justice who came in a hurry to report what happened in the morning, so Zhu Biao took the opportunity to invite the other six ministers to the cabinet to discuss how to deal with this matter.

Since Zhu Su was in the East Palace, he naturally pulled Zhu Su over as well. The two brothers sat at the top, one standing beside him, watching the court officials discuss the matter.

"Your Highness." Yang Shiqi, the head of the Maritime Affairs Department, had known about this matter for a long time. This matter was also closely related to the interests of the maritime affairs, so he was the first to step forward and said, "I think that since the evidence is conclusive, we should judge impartially."

"According to the laws of our Ming Dynasty, anyone who colluded with the invaders would be beheaded and their property confiscated. Men would be exiled to the border, and women would be sent to the Jiaofang Bureau, as a warning to future generations."

This conclusion was supported by the Department of Taxation, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, the Metropolitan Censorate, and other departments. Most of these departments were closely related to maritime interests, or simply disliked these chaotic merchants. Others who did not express their opinions noticed the extraordinary status of Zhu Fu and the son of Yihui Hou, so they kept silent and wanted to see what Zhu Biao meant first.

"Your Highness, I think this matter should be put on hold for the time being... otherwise, it may be harmful to the country." A powerful voice suddenly said.

Everyone looked towards the source of the sound, and saw an old man with white hair and flowing beard among the cabinet officials, striding out like an impassioned hero, and his steps were magnificent. He first glared at Zhu Su fiercely, which made Zhu Su quite puzzled.

Who is this old man? I don't know him. Why is he looking at me like this? Could it be that I seduced his granddaughter without him knowing?

The old minister who suddenly stepped out was Fan Xianzu. At this moment, Fan Xianzu stared at Zhu Su with gnashing teeth.

In his opinion, this was another vicious plot by His Royal Highness Prince Zhou to frame the Crown Prince and take advantage of him.

You, King Zhou, want to let the Ministry of Justice under the Crown Prince judge the merchants you have captured... Isn't this like wanting to be a whore but also want to be a saint? You want to clean up the traitors among these merchants but don't want to dirty your own hands so that you can continue to manipulate these merchants and make them resent Your Highness the Crown Prince and support your cause, King Zhou?
However, he left himself with a good reputation as a hero who cut off his own arm to eliminate traitors for the country.

Secondly, handing these people over to the Crown Prince of the Ministry of Justice for disposal was undoubtedly intended to show the Crown Prince and His Majesty that he did not dare to take the initiative, paralyze the Crown Prince, and create the illusion of brotherly friendship and respect, so as to gain the trust of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. So that he could continue to develop his own power in secret and plot big things.

Thirdly, he was so eager to expose this matter, he must want to use the name of exterminating the pirates to further control the navy. Next, it is to support the pirates and even use military remonstration to seize the throne! The old man's mind kept emerging with bizarre scenes such as Xuanwu Gate, Xuanwu Gate, Xuanwu Gate, etc.

No, for the sake of His Highness, I must stop King Zhou's evil plot!

"I, this old minister, think that there are three main reasons why we should not pursue this matter now!" Fan Xianzu said sternly.

(End of this chapter)