My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 98 The Merchant Ship Returns
Xu Qin had been staying in the cell the whole time, and before he knew it, it was already the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Zhu Di was very dissatisfied. He was dissatisfied with Ji Gang and also with Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui. Up to now, he had only found out about the cases of those princesses, eunuchs and palace maids, but no evidence was found against those civil officials. There was no definite evidence to prove that they had colluded with the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace.

Zhu Di knew that they were behind the plot, but without evidence, he didn't know who to arrest or how to punish them severely.

Ji Gang and Zhu Gaosui stood in front of Zhu Di, not daring to breathe.

Zhu Di sat there stroking his beard, and Yao Guangxiao beside him also frowned.

This is weird!
"Keep investigating. I don't believe they are hiding so well. Okay, you go down." Zhu Di waved his hand with a dark face and asked them to go out first.

The two of them immediately bowed and left.

Only Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Di were left in the room.

"The means are very clever. I guess we won't be able to find out this time. They took advantage of the situation to do this. The plan might have been done by my sisters, and they were the ones who pushed them. It would be difficult to find out their relationship with the palace.

The only breakthrough is the dead centurion, but he is already dead and there is no evidence left. "Zhu Di sat there and said with a wry smile.

"Your Majesty, this matter requires caution." Yao Guangxiao reminded Zhu Di.

Zhu Di looked at Yao Guangxiao and then nodded.

After a long while, he said, "So we need to move the capital to Beijing as soon as possible. Here, I will be played to death by them without knowing it. The Jiangnan nobles have complicated relationships. An inconspicuous person in the palace may be one of theirs!"

Yao Guangxiao nodded.

"Only after we get out of here can we kill people. I need money now, more money, to build the imperial city of Beijing as soon as possible." Zhu Di said gritting his teeth. In the past few years in Nanjing, Zhu Di also felt constrained. The infiltration of those civil officials was pervasive.

If his own prince had not been in Beijing before and if he had not given him frequent reminders, he would probably have been brainwashed by those civil officials. Of course, the eldest son in his family was still very clear-headed.

If Zhu Yunwen had not been brainwashed by those idiots, he would not have been so anxious to do the thing of reducing the power of the princes. These civil officials are more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything!

I cannot put the future of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing. If I put it in Nanjing, I don’t know how much blood the Zhu family will shed.

The ministers wanted to control the emperor, how bold were they? As an emperor, how could I be controlled by them?
From the very beginning of the incident, I knew that they were planning to target the Weaving Bureau, and Sakya Bao was just going to take care of them as a by-product.

"Your Majesty, what I mean is to give those civil officials a warning first." Yao Guangxiao said worriedly.

Zhu Di did not speak, thinking to himself, if the centurion died, how could he warn them without burying a few people with him? Who would be afraid if he gave them a few mild reprimands? Not only would they not be afraid, they would even laugh at their own incompetence.

"Old monk, I have to go back to the palace today. The New Year is coming soon and there are a lot of things to do in the palace." Zhu Di stood up and said to Yao Guangxiao.

"Yes!" Yao Guangxiao also stood up immediately.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Zhu Di was displeased and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Dad, the merchant ship is back, the merchant ship is back. News has just come from Songjiang Prefecture that the Ming Dynasty's merchant ship has returned. In addition, it also brought other news about the caravan." Zhu Gaosui's excited voice came from outside.

"Oh, come in quickly!" Zhu Di said excitedly when he heard it. He originally thought it would take another half a month, but unexpectedly, they came back before the New Year.

In fact, it was not the eunuchs who went out to sea who did not want to delay for half a month, but the soldiers and Jinyiwei who went out did not want to delay any longer. They wanted to rush back for the New Year. Besides, the goods had been sold out, and their incoming goods had filled the ship. There was no reason to continue delaying, which would arouse suspicion. Therefore, the eunuchs of the weaving bureau who followed the merchant ship out to sea this time could only order the merchant ship to return.

Zhu Gaosui pushed open the door, followed by several Jinyiwei escorting a postman.

The postman knelt down immediately when he saw Zhu Di and said to him, "Six hundred miles of urgent service, the merchant ship of the textile bureau stopped at Songjiang Prefecture for a rest last night, and got off the ship to deliver a secret letter."

"Okay!" Zhu Di nodded. Zhu Gaosui took the bamboo tube, carefully checked the seal, and then handed it to Zhu Di. Zhu Di looked at it carefully and handed it to Zhu Gaosui again. Zhu Gaosui opened it, took out the letter inside, unfolded it, made sure there was nothing harmful, and then handed it to Zhu Di with both hands.

Zhu Di took the letter, read it quickly, and then laughed: "Hahaha, good, good, good!"

Yao Guangxiao and Zhu Gaosui were both staring at Zhu Di.

"The profit this time is huge. It's not just a matter of profit, but also of silver. This time we sent back more than 17 million taels of silver, more than 200,000 taels of gold, and goods worth about 6 million taels, including cotton, grain, wood, and copper worth nearly 1 million taels. Good, good!" Zhu Di was very excited. So much money, real gold and silver, and so many goods. This trip was almost enough to cover more than half of the taxes of the Ming Dynasty.

With this money, not only can we settle accounts, but we can also speed up the construction of Beijing. Moreover, it is real money and can greatly stabilize the value of the treasure notes.

"Great!" Yao Guangxiao was also very excited when he heard what Zhu Di said. With so much money, how many things could Zhu Di do?
Zhu Gaosui was also happy. Seeing his father happy, he was happy too.

"Go back to the palace!" Zhu Di said to Zhu Gaosui.

"Yes!" Zhu Gaosui immediately said with a bow. Soon, Zhu Di and his entourage rushed to the palace. After arriving at the palace, Zhu Di first announced in the warm room of the Qianqing Palace that the merchant ship had returned to Beijing, and brought huge profits. The key was the gold and silver that the Ming Dynasty urgently needed, as well as goods worth more than 6 million taels.

There is basically no profit in these goods, grain and cotton, but there is profit after cotton is processed, and the profit of timber is also huge.

After Zhu Di made the announcement, the ministers in the warm room all expressed their congratulations, but they were not very happy. Instead, they began to worry in their hearts.

But Zhu Gaochi was extremely happy. With so much money, he would not be so tired next year. Moreover, if the Weaving Bureau could make money this time through overseas trade, then there was a high probability that it would make money next time as well.

Zhu Gaochi suddenly thought of Xu Qin, and immediately bowed to Zhu Di and said, "Dad, Sakyabao is still in the cell. It's almost the New Year, should we let Sakyabao out?"

"Well, let him come out, as soon as possible. Boss, go pick up Sakyabao and comfort him." Zhu Di heard what Zhu Gaochi said and thought of this. He felt a little headache. Comforting Sakyabao? How could he be so easy to comfort?

"Yes, Dad!" Zhu Gaochi also smiled bitterly, then thought of what Empress Xu had said before, so he said: "Dad, Mom said before that she would go and pick up Sakyabao in person? What do you think?"

"Oh, go and ask your mother what she thinks and if she is free." Zhu Di said immediately after hearing this.

"Yes, Dad, I'll go right away." Zhu Gaochi said and immediately turned around and went out.

When Zhu Gaochi arrived at Kunning Palace and heard the news he said, he was extremely happy. Zhang was also happy. This time they made so much money, which would make life much easier for the prince.

"Let's go, let's go. I'm going to pick up Sakya Bao!" Queen Xu said anxiously.

"Yes, mother, how about I go and bring Sakyabao here?" Zhu Gaochi said to his mother, worried that if he went there, Xu Qin would not give him face, and he would be sad then.

I have been to the imperial prison in the past ten days to look for Xu Qin, but he ignored me.

If I go now, Xu Qin will be in a good mood.

"No, I told Jingchang at the beginning that when Baoer is released from prison, I will go to pick him up in person. That's it. I am leaving the palace, and my Baoer has been wronged." Empress Xu waved her hand and insisted on going to pick him up.

"Mom, this, about Sakyabao, maybe, maybe." Zhu Gaochi was still a little worried.

"Maybe you still have resentment? Well, mother knows, it's normal to have resentment. However, this matter still needs further investigation. I guess your father hasn't found out anything useful." Empress Xu understood Zhu Gaochi's concerns, but she had to go. If she didn't go, Xu Qin would be even more resentful.

Soon, Empress Xu's phoenix sedan left the palace and went straight to the imperial prison.

After arriving at the imperial prison, Empress Xu took Zhu Gaochi and the Crown Princess straight to Xu Qin's cell. Xu Qin was eating and Xu Jingchang was standing. Soon they saw many Jinyiwei standing at the door.

Xu Qin turned his head and looked towards the door.

Xu Jingchang hurried towards the door and found that his eldest aunt was coming here with the prince and the princess.

"Brother, brother, my aunt is here!" Xu Jingchang turned happily and said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin understood what was going on when he heard this. He knew that he was probably going to leave, but he still said to Xu Jingchang expressionlessly, "Come if you want to. What's there to be happy about?"

"Ah?" Xu Jingchang was stunned for a moment when he heard Xu Qin say that. Then he looked at the corridor of the cell and thought about it. Then Xu Jingchang walked to the back of Xu Qin and stood there.

"Go to the door to greet him!" Xu Qin said to Xu Jingchang.

"No, my eldest brother was framed and sent to jail, but my aunt didn't say anything. That won't do. My Xu family lives a proud life!" Xu Jingchang said as he stood there and shook his head.

After hearing this, Xu Qin smiled.

Soon, Empress Xu arrived at the cell, followed by Zhu Gaochi and Crown Princess Zhang.

When Xu Qin saw them coming, he stood up, knelt down and saluted, saying, "Greetings to Her Majesty the Queen, Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Princess."

Very solemn and expressionless.

When Empress Xu saw Xu Qin like this, her heart sank, knowing that this boy still had resentment in his heart.

"Well, Bao'er, no need to be polite! Your aunt came here today to tell you good news. The merchant ship is back and has made a lot of profit." Empress Xu came over with a smile and wanted to help Xu Qin up.

Xu Qin pulled out the hand that was being supported by Empress Xu and said "oh" lightly.

(End of this chapter)