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

Chapter 1042: Breaking the Window Paper

"Three reasons?" Before the crown prince Zhu Biao could speak, the young officials of the Maritime Affairs Department had already started to make noises with indignation on their faces. Yang Shiqi glanced at Zhu Su and stepped out of the line and said, "May I ask Mr. Fan?"

"How can it be justified to not try the guilty and to tolerate the evil?"

"I can't wait to hear the three reasons."

"Humph, even if it is a crime, there are priorities. How can you, a child, know that?" Fan Xianzu was not willing to be outdone by Yang Shiqi, a junior, and he spoke back directly. Zhu Su, who was standing next to Zhu Biao, raised his eyebrows slightly, and heard Fan Xianzu say:
"Your Highness, I have said before that arresting Zhu Fu and others at this time will do more harm than good." He naturally would not say that he was worried that Zhou Wang Zhu Su's faction would use this case as a breakthrough to expand their power. Instead, he racked his brains and came up with three plausible reasons.

"First, Srivijaya is thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty. Even if our court investigates this matter and tries its best to wipe out this group of pirates... who knows if there will be other pirates occupying that key point on the sea in the future?"

"Instead of doing this, it is better to let Zhu Fu and his men control the key points of that place. At least, they still know not to attack our Ming merchants... It is much better for them to control that place than to be taken advantage of by other more vicious bandits."

"Ridiculous!" Yang Shiqi was about to retort, but Zhu Su had already laughed and said contemptuously: "I thought that Mr. Fan had studied books for many years, and he must have some profound ideas when he stood up in the court."

"I didn't expect you to say such vulgar words!"

Fan Xianzu paused and stared at Zhu Su. Zhu Biao also frowned slightly and said to Zhu Su, "Fifth brother, please be kind in your words."

"Master Fan hasn't finished yet."

He looked at his fifth brother, and then at Fan Xianzu. His fifth brother had a record of scolding people to the point of fainting and vomiting blood in public. Old Master Fan was so old that he probably couldn't bear the trouble of the fifth brother.

"Uh..." Zhu Su, who had already prepared a curse, was interrupted. After thinking for a while, he decided to give his elder brother some face and retreated unhappily. However, Fan Xianzu misunderstood and thought that Crown Prince Zhu Biao was supporting him, so he straightened his chest even more confidently.

"This is the same reason," the old man said, pacing back and forth as he spoke.

"Secondly, Zhu Fu, Liu Tianen and their ilk have a deep connection with our Great Ming Emperor Hongwu." He raised his hands to the sky. "It is unwise to make our Great Ming Emperor Hongwu worried because of some trivial matters that have no clear evidence."

"It's a small matter?" Yang Shiqi tried to hold back, but he couldn't stand it any longer and stepped out to ask:

"Zhu Fu, Liu Tianen and their ilk blocked trade routes and used their status as merchants to harm the Ming Dynasty. They acted recklessly on the islands in the South China Sea, acting like a country within a country."

“Is this also a trivial matter?”

"May I ask Lord Yang, the people they are harming are merchants from other countries. How can they harm the people of our Ming Dynasty?" Fan Xianzu argued confidently.

"Cutting off the trade routes and preventing foreigners from coming to the Ming Dynasty to do business is equivalent to embezzling the Ming Dynasty's commercial taxes in disguise. Is this a trivial matter?" Zhu Su said coldly.

"Among all taxes in the world, agricultural taxes should be given priority. Focusing on commercial taxes is putting the cart before the horse and will surely lead to disasters in the future," Fan Xianzu said righteously.

"what!"

"So, in Lord Fan's opinion, the Ming Dynasty's promotion of maritime trade is putting the cart before the horse?" Zhu Sushai asked with a smile.

"I never said that." Fan Xianzu's eyes flickered and he said immediately. "I just said that we shouldn't make such a fuss over a few commercial taxes."

Zhu Su narrowed his eyes. This guy is a conservative. He thought that these old antiques had been kicked out of the court a few years ago, but he didn't expect that there was still one hidden in the cabinet.

He had no doubt that if the development of maritime trade had not been the national policy set by Zhu Yuanzhang himself in the early years, this guy would have said on the spot that the Ming Dynasty should close its doors to the outside world.

"Three reasons," Fan Xianzu said before Zhu Su could continue to refute him. "Nanyang is really far away, and it is inevitable that the Ming Dynasty cannot reach it."

"If we want to punish Zhu Fu, Liu Tianen and others, we must send soldiers to Southeast Asia again to wipe out their forces."

"In this way, how much money will be wasted in food and military pay? How much silver and gold will be spent? Isn't this just losing the big picture for the small?"

"Are we going to continue to turn a deaf ear and condone evil?" Yang Shiqi said angrily.

"Of course it's not about tolerating evil. As long as Zhu Fu and others disband the bandits they have fostered and impose a fine, we can solve this problem without spending a single soldier. They will still respect our Ming Dynasty, and our Ming Dynasty will still be able to control Southeast Asia. Isn't this wonderful?" Fan Xianzu spread his hands.

"In fact, if His Royal Highness the King of Zhou had not done anything wrong, this old minister would have already agreed with Zhu Fu and Mr. Zhu to punish him in private, and this incident would have been resolved perfectly..."

"Your Highness, please allow me to impeach His Highness the Prince of Zhou for his willful and reckless behavior, for arbitrarily detaining innocent people and forcing them to confess... Please consider the overall situation and punish the Prince of Zhou to demonstrate the strictness of the laws of our Ming Dynasty!" Fan Xianzu suddenly changed his tone and launched a fierce attack on Zhu Su, directly criticizing Zhu Su for taking inappropriate measures and destroying the perfect situation he had previously created.

When he changed his offensive, several censors who heard the news knelt down and impeached Zhu Su. When they heard that punishing Zhu Fu and his ilk might require additional troops and a lot of money, officials such as the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites, who had previously supported the liquidation of Zhu Fu and his ilk, fell silent.

"This old fellow wants to confuse the concept of this matter and link the right and wrong of this matter with the right and wrong of my approach..." Zhu Su thought. After all, he did force those merchants to give evidence with the intention of defaming himself. Even if he said it out loud, it would not be justified.

As long as the practice was improper, Fan Xianzu would have the opportunity to ease the situation by saying that these confessions were obtained through "forced confessions by the King of Zhou".

If the eldest brother was really afraid of me, he should have agreed to it now. Zhu Su thought to himself and looked at Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao frowned and said, "I already know what Mr. Fan said."

"Yes, our Ming Dynasty is ruled by Heaven, but Zhu is a rich and wicked man who thinks that Nanyang is remote, so he raises his enemies there and acts recklessly. He regards our Ming Dynasty's leased land as his private country."

"If this continues, where will the laws of the Ming Dynasty survive?"

"Your Highness!" Fan Xianzu's face changed, as if he had not expected that at the last moment, it was Zhu Biao who stabbed him in the back. He hurriedly said, "Your Highness, think twice. Those remote and barbaric islands in the South Seas are nothing but chicken ribs. They are tasteless."

"Even if we can conquer them this time, what if the bandits wreak havoc again? Should we send troops to conquer them again?"

"In this way, wouldn't the money and food consumed be endless?"

"Are we just going to let the scoundrels run rampant?" Zhu Biao rolled his eyes, showing unprecedented strength. "Our Great Ming is stronger than the Han and Tang dynasties, and the vast seas are also our territory. Anyone who offends our Great Ming will be punished no matter how far away they are. Are we going to tolerate the traitors?"

"We should use this kind of people as an example to the people of the world. We will never tolerate anyone who dares to harm the interests of our Ming Dynasty. People need to have blood, let alone the country. If we ignore it today, Japan, Yingzhou, Goryeo, and the Three Kingdoms of Korea will follow suit in the future. Wouldn't our Ming Dynasty be torn apart?"

Zhu Su heard this and slammed the table and said, "Brother, what you said is very true. One blow is enough to prevent a hundred blows. This is true whether it is internal or external. If we tolerate it today, more parasites will come tomorrow to test the bottom line of our Ming Dynasty... This cannot be allowed!"

"Yes. Fifth brother is truly the righteous man of our Ming Dynasty." Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Su approvingly, deliberately showing his "brotherly friendship" with Zhu Su. "With Fifth brother here, a few pirates on the sea are nothing to worry about."

"Once the Fifth Brother's divine power arrives, the few bandits will naturally scatter and perish."

"No!" Fan Xianzu suddenly shouted. "Your Highness cannot entrust the King of Zhou to march south."

"Otherwise, the King of Zhou will take advantage of the opportunity to conquer the bandits and become more powerful. When he returns victorious again, our Ming Dynasty will be unstable!"

The scene suddenly fell silent.

Fan Xianzu was so anxious that he spoke out his true feelings. The whole place was in complete silence, and all the officials looked at each other in bewilderment. Crown Prince Zhu Biao's face, which had always been as warm as the spring breeze, changed from surprise to anger, and then to indifference, and then he just looked at Fan Xianzu.

"Now I know what it means to create trouble out of nothing. Old man Fan, are you too idle? Do you think that the Ming Dynasty court is too peaceful, so you deliberately come up with something to make things more difficult for us?" Zhu Su was so angry that he laughed.

"I am a loyal minister." Having said that, Fan Xianzu stiffened his neck. Anyway, it was a tacit understanding in the court that the King of Zhou was powerful and might threaten the Crown Prince. Everyone had suspicions in their hearts, but no one dared to speak out yet.

Now that he has said it, he doesn't mind being the one who breaks the window paper.

"Your Highness, the King of Zhou is the one who is causing all this trouble. Are you trying to take advantage of the opportunity to pacify the pirates at sea to strengthen yourself?"

"Your Highness, you must not sit idly by and watch this matter escalate. If you truly care about the relationship between brothers, you should not sit idly by and watch His Highness Prince Zhou perform another extraordinary feat... Otherwise, if His Highness Prince Zhou develops some inappropriate thoughts, wouldn't it further damage the brotherhood between you and His Highness Prince Zhou?"

"Fan Xianzu, you are so bold!" Zhu Biao said, his face changing, his imperial aura fully revealed for the first time, "How dare you alienate the brotherhood between me and my fifth brother!"

"Your Highness, I am loyal to you!" Fan Xianzu's face flushed red, and he looked even more angry, as if he wanted to die by hitting the pillar to prove his loyalty. "If Your Highness doesn't agree, I will die to persuade Your Majesty!"

"We must not allow His Royal Highness Prince Zhou to interfere with your throne as the foundation of the country!"

This matter has deviated into the dispute between the crown prince and the king of Zhou over the "foundation of the country", as if supporting the king of Zhou in clearing out Zhu Fu and his ilk is to oppose the crown prince Zhu Biao, and supporting Fan Xianzu in lifting up and then letting down Zhu Fu and his ilk is to stand on the side of the crown prince. The civil and military officials who originally came to discuss this matter looked at each other, and were silent, and no one dared to say a word.

I wish I could bury my head in my shoulders, and I only regret that I brought my ears with me when I entered the palace to discuss matters today.

"Absurd..." Zhu Biao scolded, but as a filial son, he did not dare to let Fan Xianzu trouble his father Zhu Yuanzhang for this matter. If his father knew that he and his fifth brother were suspected of competing for the throne, he would be furious.

Whether it is scolding myself or my fifth brother, it is not good for my father's health.

This fear caused Zhu Biao to feel a rare fear of harming the innocent when facing Fan Xianzu.

Zhu Su sneered. If you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext. It can only be said that people with dirty hearts see everything as dirty. This guy is talking nonsense, just to put the hat of competing with Zhu Biao for the throne on his head. He was about to say something when he saw a eunuch hurriedly walking into the hall. His hurried appearance quickly attracted everyone's attention.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Biao asked.

"Bing...Bing, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Bing, His Royal Highness the King of Zhou." The eunuch was panting and looked like he was running in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, His Majesty has returned to the palace..."

"What?" Zhu Su and Zhu Biao were both startled. Zhu Su was surprised. He had chosen Zhu Fu to deal with him when Zhu was still in Fengyang. The purpose was to make things a done deal and quickly solve the problem of Zhu Fu, Liu Tianen and others blocking the route without authorization. Putting a matter that already had an answer in front of Zhu, so that even if Zhu was angry, it would not be too serious because the matter had been resolved.

But it stands to reason that Lao Zhu would not be back so soon after going to Fengyang. They should still have plenty of time.

What was the reason that made Zhu Yuanzhang rush back to the palace from Fengyang?
"Your Majesty is here!"

Before Zhu Su, Zhu Biao and others could think about it, a high-pitched and sharp eunuch's voice was heard outside the palace. Old Zhu actually came straight here. Zhu Su and Zhu Biao only had time to exchange a glance before they hurriedly got up and went outside the palace to greet Old Zhu.

"Your son Zhu Su (Zhu Biao) pays homage to the Emperor!"

"Your Majesty, may your Majesty be blessed!"

Old Zhu walked quickly into the hall. Zhu Su, Zhu Biao and a group of ministers hurriedly saluted Old Zhu.

Old Zhu walked up to the main throne quickly, and two people, one on his left and one on his right, always supported him. One of them was naturally the grandson Zhu Xiongying who accompanied Old Zhu to the Zhongdu Fengyang City, and the other person, Zhu Su was surprised to find, was Tie Xuan who returned to the capital from Fengmingzhou.

Feeling Zhu Su's gaze, Tie Xuan turned his head and nodded quietly to Zhu Su.

(End of this chapter)