Zhu Yuanzhang Returns from Modern Times

Chapter 12 Heavy Hammer
"Pass on my decree: Liao Yongzhong's crime is unforgivable and he shall be executed. However, considering his great merits, his family members shall be spared.

His son Liao Quan inherited the title."

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang, after a thorough cleansing, issued an edict.

The case of Liao Yongzhong only involved Liao Yongzhong himself and not his family. Zhu Yuanzhang had multiple considerations.

First of all, Liao Yongzhong did make great contributions, and he was the first founding hero to be killed. There must be many founding heroes watching his affairs.

By doing this, you can reassure them and prevent them from reacting too violently, lest they become upset.

The country has just been founded, and the power of its many nobles is terrifyingly great.

If he targeted one or several of them alone, he, as the emperor, could easily solve the problem.

But it is not that easy to take direct action against an entire class.

Even he had to use some strategies, killing a small number first and winning over the majority.

In governing a country, killing is necessary, but one cannot indiscriminately kill without consideration or backup.

Otherwise, not only will we fail to bring order to the world, but we will make the world even more chaotic!

He had understood this principle a long time ago.

This is also why in the previous life, he killed nobles, officials, arrogant soldiers and generals... In the court and officialdom, heads rolled and blood flowed like a river.

However, under his rule, the Ming Dynasty not only did not fall into chaos, but developed extremely rapidly. The lives of the people had undergone earth-shaking changes compared with the Yuan Dynasty, especially at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

Now he has been reborn and has another fifteen years of extremely novel and important life in the future. At this time, he is more murderous than before, but he is also more cautious in doing things.

Secondly, it was to paralyze Li Shanchang and others, preventing them from noticing something in advance, thereby destroying key evidence and hiding it in advance.

The third is the Chaohu navy behind Liao Yongzhong.

Although the Chaohu navy committed many crimes, they were really good at fighting.

When it comes to daring to fight hard, fighting tough battles and winning battles, the Jiangfang Navy and the Navy for preparing for the Japanese invasion that he formed with the brothers Wu Zhen and Wu Liang as the core are really no match for the Chaohu Navy.

In the previous life, the Chaohu Navy was marginalized after Liao Yongzhong was executed.

But even so, after the fourth prince became emperor, the Chaohu Navy was still the strongest among the Ming Dynasty's navy.

The fourth brother sent Zheng He to the Western Ocean, and the main force of the navy was the Chaohu navy.

Now, he already knew what he had missed out on by establishing the maritime ban in his previous life, and knew how many treasures there were overseas.

I will naturally not make this mistake again in this life.

Not only should the maritime ban be abolished and the Maritime Customs Office be re-established, but overseas development should also be vigorously pursued.

Then the Chaohu navy becomes particularly important.

After getting rid of the troublemaker Liao Yongzhong, the remaining people can be used by him, and he can use them more conveniently.

"Four hours later, the Crown Prince will personally issue the decree!"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and added again.

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes and began to rest.

Many thoughts are surging in my mind.

Fifteen years of modern life have greatly broadened my horizons.

Combining the two hundred years of history of his own Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang saw too many problems that existed in his own Ming Dynasty -

Banknotes, taxation and transportation, the feudal system, official salaries, maritime bans, corrupt officials, arrogant generals, the noble class, the division between the North and the South...

There are so many things that need to be solved one by one.

Many of them are incredibly tricky.

For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a great sense of urgency...

……

"The Marquis is back! The Marquis is back!"

At the mansion of Marquis Deqing, those who were eagerly waiting shouted excitedly.

But a moment later, this surprise turned into intense shock and immense sorrow.

Soon, there was a deafening cry of grief and a scene of mourning!
In grief, Liao Quan and other members of the Liao family, as well as some people who were particularly closely involved with the Liao family, were all terrified and frightened to death.

Even Marquis Deqing was beheaded. Now the people from the Royal Guard Commandant's Mansion have surrounded Marquis Deqing's Mansion and have no intention of withdrawing.

They couldn't help but worry about their fate.

Many people have started writing their wills or making arrangements for their funeral arrangements.

After Lao Zhu's iron fist came down, they no longer had the arrogance they had before.

The following time was extremely painful for them, and they experienced firsthand how each day felt like a year.

After a few hours, they received a report that Crown Prince Zhu Biao had arrived with his personal army.

Liao Quan was so shocked that he almost slit his own throat!

I feel that the Liao family is probably finished, and if they are not careful, all nine generations of the family will be implicated!

Therefore, when he heard from the Crown Prince that only Liao Yongzhong would be executed, and the others would not be implicated, and that Liao Quan would inherit the title of Marquis of Deqing, Liao Quan felt overjoyed. He almost fainted and was completely exhausted.

He kowtowed repeatedly, thanking the Emperor for his grace and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his kindness.

The others' reactions were similar to Liao Quan's.

Zhu Biao took all of this into consideration and said some comforting words, full of admiration and emotion.

He really is worthy of being the father, he has such a firm grasp on people's hearts!

This method of combining kindness and severity, especially the move of asking himself to wait a few hours before announcing the decree, is really ingenious!
Thinking of his father, who had specially asked him to come and convey his imperial decree, he felt even more emotional and moved.

My father's love and care for me really covers every aspect.

He does the evil, but lets himself do the good.

This is something that the princes of other dynasties would not even dare to think about!

……

"Mr. Hu, come and look at these letters! Damn it!"

In the Wuying Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had dozed off for an hour and was already full of energy, greeted Hu Weiyong, the right prime minister of the Secretariat who was summoned.

After Hu Weiyong confessed his crime, he went to look through it without hesitation.

Hu Weiyong's expression changed several times after he had only read a few letters.

"My Lord, this... I dare not bear to watch any longer. Liao Yongzhong, his entire clan must be exterminated!"

"Keep watching, it's okay."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, signaling Hu Weiyong to continue.

What is grace?

This is grace!

In such a big matter, among all the civil and military officials in the court, I am the only one who has such a great honor and can be summoned by the superiors to view the evidence that has been found!

What about Liu Bowen, Li Shanchang, the dead Yang Xian, and the demoted Wang Guangyang.

They are far worse than me!

What's more, Liu Bowen is about to die!
"Liao Yongzhong, that bastard! He deserves to have his entire clan exterminated!

The many generals in the Chaohu Navy should also be implicated!"

After watching for another half an hour, Hu Weiyong couldn't help but speak again, filled with righteous indignation.

"Prime Minister Hu, come and take a look at this."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not respond to Hu Weiyong's words, but handed him a few more letters.

These letters have one characteristic: they are incomplete and many of them were burned.

Three of them were written by Liu Bowen to Liao Yongzhong.

In his previous life, he was furious because of these three burned letters and acquiesced to Hu Weiyong's poisoning of Liu Bowen.

It was later learned that Hu Weiyong deliberately had the letter burned in order to make himself more suspicious of Liu Bowen.

This put Liu Bowen to death.

After Liu Bowen's death, he felt a lot of regrets.

Now that he has returned to the eighth year of Hongwu and knows the whole story, if Hu Weiyong wants to use this method to harm Liu Bowen again, he will forget it!

"I never thought that a man as upright as the Marquis of Chengyi would secretly associate with a traitor like Liao Yongzhong!"

After carefully reading the remaining letter for a while, Hu Weiyong spoke with emotion and some anger.

“Although many of these letters were burned, it is not difficult to see from the remaining ones that Liao Yongzhong gave Liu Bowen a large number of valuables three times.

Liu Bowen accepted it and wrote back to thank Liao Yongzhong.

Hu Weiyong naturally knew that the original intention of the letter was definitely not this.

It should be that Liu Bowen politely expressed his gratitude to Liao Yongzhong for his generous gift, and then refused it.

He knew Liu Bowen very well.

But that didn't stop him from saying it.

Only those who have wronged you know how wronged you are!

"Prime Minister Hu also thinks so? This Liu Bowen is really surprising!"

There was some inexplicable meaning in Zhu Yuanzhang's voice.

When Hu Weiyong heard this, he was overjoyed.

It's completely done!

Liu Bowen must die!
"Come here, go call Liu Bowen!
Let's ask him in person what he and Liao Yongzhong are talking about!

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang gave this order, Hu Weiyong was stunned for a moment, as if he was hit hard by an invisible hammer!
(End of this chapter)