The Ming Dynasty: The most ruthless imperial grandson, Old Zhu begged me not to kill him.

Chapter 230 The Person Zhu Yuanzhang Feared Most

After Guo Huan and others were beheaded, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was shaken as if by an earthquake, and many officials in various places were arrested.

However, it did not have much impact on the morale of the people of the Ming Dynasty. Those who were killed were corrupt officials in various places. Even in the local areas, these people were engaged in acts of bullying men and women.

Therefore, no one objected to their killing; on the contrary, they cheered.

In particular, as the Da Ming Daily began to spread throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, all the deeds of these corrupt officials were exposed.

Therefore, even if some people wanted to incite a rebellion, they had no way to stop it. Some people even came out and filed a lawsuit against the local government.

Zhu Yuanzhang, traveling incognito, investigated the area near Yingtian Prefecture and was very satisfied with the results.

"As expected, this rascal does have some tricks up his sleeve. Not bad, not bad. I believe that the people of our Great Ming will support our decision!"

Xu Yungong, standing to the side, was speechless. This was clearly the Crown Prince's idea, and it seemed to have nothing to do with His Majesty.

If His Majesty were to make the decision, the number of people killed would likely be far greater than this.

At this moment, Jiang Huan hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, now that we have returned to Yingtian Prefecture, why don't we go back to the palace? Important matters in the court still require Your Majesty's decision!"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and shook his head: "Look, even though we're not in Yingtian Prefecture, our Biao'er and our eldest grandson Xiong Ying are doing quite well, aren't they? They're definitely from the Zhu family, they're really good. As long as they're here, it doesn't matter whether I go back or not!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Huan smiled bitterly to himself. If His Majesty continued like this, the entire court and the public would probably forget about his existence.

Jiang Huan, in particular, felt an immense sense of urgency.

Back then, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was infamous, and countless people came to him for favors. Even many high-ranking officials and nobles in the court had many connections with him. At that time, he was riding high.

But now, the person most feared by people in the court has become Yu Huatian, the director of the Western Depot.

Everyone said that Yu Huatian was skilled in martial arts and his methods were even better than his own back then, which made him extremely resentful.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard is clearly the most powerful intelligence organization in the entire Ming Dynasty. What is this Western Depot? It has only been established for a short time, yet it dares to compare itself to us. It is simply hateful.

Xu Yungong was also somewhat tempted. He had been anxiously waiting by His Majesty's side for some time. Even though his home was right here, he dared not go back. He had to guard His Majesty's side every day. He couldn't remember the last time he had a good night's sleep.

I really want to go back and get some rest.

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly rang out.

"Zhu Chongba, you're having a good time out there, not even coming home. Have you forgotten about me too?"

Everyone turned around and saw that the people who came were Empress Ma, Crown Prince Zhu Biao, and Crown Prince Zhu Xiong Ying.

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, completely losing his composure. He ran over happily and said in a fawning tone.

"Hey sis, what brings you here? Look at what you're saying, even if we don't care about ourselves, we can't ignore you!"

"Sister, no one can compare to you in my heart. Those people are just passersby to me. Only you, my dear sister, are my true love!" Empress Ma's eyes began to turn cold.

"So you mean there are indeed other women outside?"

"Since you're so generous, why not bring them into the harem? Those rich Zhang family's daughters, those slender horses presented by Suzhou merchants, you're living quite comfortably!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's face immediately darkened. He had never told anyone about these matters, so how did Empress Ma know? Finally, he looked at the bewildered Crown Prince. Only Crown Prince Zhu Biao knew about this, so it must have been this guy who had exposed him.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao looked embarrassed, his eyes filled with confusion; he had no idea what had happened.

He had promised his father that he would not reveal a single word about this matter, not even to his mother or Zhu Xiong Ying.

During this period, in order to prevent these messages from being exposed, I slept alone every night, but in the end, this is still the result.

Zhu Xiong Ying felt somewhat embarrassed. Yes, she had indeed said these things, but it was out of necessity.

He controlled the Western Depot, and now its spies were slowly spreading out. The Empress Dowager was very concerned about the Emperor's situation, fearing that something might happen. So, whenever Zhu Yuanzhang went to a place, in addition to Zhu Xiong Ying knowing what happened, Yu Huatian also specially compiled a report and gave it to Empress Ma.

Perhaps because the information was compiled too comprehensively, it failed to incite any unrest and instead revealed the whole truth to Empress Ma.

Zhu Xiong Ying was covered in sweat, but seeing that Zhu Yuan Zhang and Zhu Biao were not much better off than himself, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to explain to Empress Ma what had happened recently, and Zhu Biao also wanted to explain to Zhu Yuanzhang, thus they were stuck in a dead end.

At this moment, Zhu Xiong Ying had an idea: why not let her father take the blame? After all, they were all family, so why distinguish between "yours" and "mine"?

Zhu Yuanzhang turned his gaze to Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiong Ying, who were standing to the side: "His Majesty and I have some things to discuss. Please excuse us for a moment!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang sensed something was wrong and hurriedly said, "Sister, please, we are all family, why be so formal? Why can't we talk about things together? Why make the child stay away!"

However, as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang opened his eyes, he saw Crown Prince Zhu Biao and Grandson Zhu Xiong Ying running frantically outside, closing the door behind them.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was extremely grim. These guys were all traitors. Finally, a scream came from inside.

After a long while, perhaps Empress Ma had calmed down, Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly massaged her back.

"Sister, you have to believe me, I really only did this to train Biao'er and Xiong Ying. If I were in the capital, how could they possibly work so hard? You see, I'm doing a pretty good job with them, aren't I? Especially Xiong Ying, he's even started to use some of my skills, that's really impressive!"

It would have been better if this hadn't been mentioned, because it made Empress Ma very angry.

"How dare you say that? You're a grown man, yet you entrust the affairs of the court to a child. Are you an emperor or a crown prince?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was somewhat frustrated. He hadn't initially thought things would turn out this way. He had assumed that since neither he nor the Crown Prince were in the capital, Li Shanchang's personality would definitely cause trouble. However, he believed that no matter how much trouble Li Shanchang caused, as long as Xu Da was there, nothing would go wrong.

(End of this chapter)