Wandering the Heavens

"Who are you?" Zhu Yunwen turned his gaze to Yu Xian.

"Yu Xian, the current commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard." Yu Xian answered after Zhu Di signaled.

"You seem to have good abilities, so why are you willing to work for the traitor Zhu Di?" Zhu Yunwen's face was full of sarcasm and his words were full of regret.

"First, the emperor inherited the throne of Taizu in accordance with the will of heaven, and he is not the traitor you claim; second, you are the traitor!"

Yu Xian's words were very impolite, and even Yao Guangxiao's face twitched unnaturally. How dare he say that? How could he be a lackey? It would be much better to be a censor.

Yu Xian said this with great confidence, Zhu Di needed someone to give him the legitimate reasons for launching the Jingnan Campaign. However, among the three people present, Zhu Di could not personally take part, and Yao Guangxiao was too lazy to speak up, so Yu Xian had to be the bad guy. He had to criticize Zhu Yunwen until he felt ashamed and satisfied, so that his boss Zhu Di would be satisfied.

"Haha, I am a traitor! How ridiculous! I am the emperor, and he Zhu Di is just a vassal king!" Zhu Yunwen looked at Yu Xian angrily.

"Your Majesty, how should I address this person..." Yu Xian first asked Zhu Di for instructions.

"Commoner." Zhu Di spoke without blinking.

"I heard that the commoner was smart and studious since childhood, and was extremely filial. When the Crown Prince Yiwen fell ill when he was fourteen, the commoner carefully took care of him, not leaving his side day and night. In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu, the Crown Prince Yiwen passed away. The commoner became thin due to excessive grief while observing mourning. Seeing this, Taizu sighed and said, 'You are so truly filial, don't you think of me?'"

"At the beginning of his reign, he was kind to the wise and fond of learning, issued a general amnesty, emphasized agriculture and sericulture, established schools, inspected officials, and revised the official system inside and outside the country. He commended those who were chaste and filial, and provided relief to disaster victims." Yu Xian stopped here.

When Zhu Yunwen heard this, he sat up straighter: "It's good that you know!"

"But what I don't understand is whether being filial to Taizu is your privilege alone?" Yu Xian changed the subject: "Taizu started from humble beginnings and went through 17 years of hard struggle to defeat Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng, expel the Mongols and restore the Han people's country, achieving unprecedented achievements."

"Taizu was lonely and miserable in his early years, so he valued family ties the most. Therefore, he treated the royal family with unprecedented favor. For this reason, there were always court officials who impeached and hoped to reduce the royal family's treatment. But when the mountain tomb collapsed, you ordered that the kings were not allowed to come to the capital to mourn, and did not even give the kings the last chance to show filial piety."

"Aren't you smart and studious? Where have you learned loyalty, filial piety, brotherhood, faith, propriety, justice, integrity and shame?"

Zhu Di felt extremely comfortable and aggrieved at the same time when hearing these words. His own father had passed away, but he couldn't even attend the funeral.

"Think about Fang Xiaoru, Qi Tai, Huang Guan and others who assisted you. They were either world-famous Confucian masters or outstanding scholars who were well-read and stood out from the imperial examinations."

"But their words and deeds really prove the saying that those who are loyal are mostly butchers, and those who are unfaithful are mostly scholars. These people are trying to sow discord among the royal family and prevent the descendants from fulfilling their filial piety to their deceased father. Yet they can rise to prominence by your side. Birds of a feather flock together!"

"Taizu gave everything for the Ming Dynasty, even at the cost of being accused of killing meritorious officials. But in the end, his wife, who had shared the good and bad times with him, left him. His smart grandson and the heir to the empire he had carefully nurtured also left one after another, leaving only a lonely old man struggling to keep the world peaceful. Yet he was deceived by you!"

"After Taizu passed away, you forgot what you said in front of the old man that you would treat your uncles well. It's been less than three months, and you've already attacked King Zhou. Can't you pretend anymore?"

"Have you been pretending and suppressing yourself in front of Taizu for too long that your temperament has turned bad, or are you just so mean and vicious by nature?"

"You...you are talking nonsense. I inherited the throne and all the kings disobeyed me. What other solution do I have except to reduce the power of the princes? Didn't he...didn't Zhu Di also reduce the power of the princes?" Zhu Yunwen raised his finger and pointed at Zhu Di in retort.

"The Emperor is reducing the power of the princes, but he did not fabricate charges to frame the royal family like you did. In order to seek justice for the royal family members who were wronged before, he even killed a group of treacherous villains who tried to sow discord among the royal family members. In this respect, he is a thousand times better than you, a commoner!" Yu Xian said loudly, raising his right fist.

"The emperor did not enjoy the honor of being an emperor for a moment, but instead traveled on the grasslands for years to fight against the Mongols. Perhaps when future generations see the history books of today, they will not think that the emperor is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but the general who conquered the north of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"How can you, a commoner who only knows how to bully others at home, compare with me?"

"Shut up, I am the true emperor, I can do whatever I want! All the kings are my subjects, their lives belong to me, what's wrong with me not wanting them to have an easy life! Zhu Di, why did you start an army? Your fate as a subject should be to wait obediently in the Prince of Yan's mansion for my death decree!"

"You want to kill me, but I won't hurt you!" Zhu Di sighed.

The goal had been achieved, and Zhu Di had no interest in saying anything more. He glanced at Yao Guangxiao and stood up and left.

"Stop, why don't you kill me? Shouldn't you be uneasy when I'm alive? If you kill me, you will have peace and tranquility. Hurry up, Zhu Di! I beg you, kill me, kill me..." Zhu Yunwen's voice became smaller and smaller and finally disappeared.

"Your medicine doesn't work! He can still talk so much." Zhu Di said jokingly.

Yu Xian said everything for him, and he felt extremely relaxed at this moment.

"Your Majesty, perhaps this is the last bit of my resolve."

Yu Xian knew that after today, Zhu Yunwen would become a consciousnessless walking corpse.

"I didn't expect that Mr. Yu not only has martial arts skills, but also has such a sharp tongue." Yao Guangxiao seemed to have just remembered that he had a mouth and could speak.

"What I have to say today is not as good as what you say today. If you were to come forward, you would surely quote scriptures and classics to refute me, leaving me speechless."

Yu Xian was very unhappy. The person who instigated Zhu Di to start a rebellion did not say a word when he saw Zhu Yunwen. This was too cautious.

"Okay, Yu Qing, hand the sign to me!" Zhu Di put his hands behind his back and looked at the city in the distance.

Zhu Yunwen has been captured, and the forces that followed and used him have been uprooted. It's time to put my heart at ease after ten years of worry.

"Yu Xian has been ordered to investigate the case and will now return the token to the Emperor."

Yu Xian took off the sign "As if I were here in person" from his waist and walked to Zhu Di, bowed and presented it with both hands. Zhu Di was silent for a while and took the token from Yu Xian's hand.

"Tell me, what do you want to do next?" Zhu Di thought about it and decided to find someone a job.

"Your Majesty, why don't you give me a piece of land? I want to farm it." Yu Xian didn't want to get involved in the struggle between the Crown Prince and the King of Han.

"Liyang is a good place. I'll give you 500 acres of land and a manor. Go ahead and do what you want!"

Zhu Di knew Yu Xian's thoughts, and at the same time, he was worried about Yu Xian being in the court. Because of his performance in the assassination case, if he were to serve as an official in the court, it would undoubtedly intensify the intensity of the struggle between the prince and the King of Han, and no one could afford the consequences.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the land!"

"Don't talk about this. It's not too much to give you an official position based on your merits, but I can't do anything given the current situation. After you go to Liyang, in addition to farming, you should also make some preparations. When I go to the grassland one day, you must follow me." Zhu Di waved his hand.

"I'll remember this!" Yu Xian replied with a bow.

The news that Jinyiwei commander Yu Xian had been dismissed quickly spread throughout the capital, making many people feel relieved. This unscrupulous and murderous henchman had finally lost his power.

Zhu Gaoxu is now the regent. He is worried every day about raising military funds for the grassland expedition. Xia Yuanji, that old man, is stubborn and he can't do anything about him.

The Jinyiwei returned to Zhu Gaosui's hands, but it was really inconvenient to use them now, because all the Jinyiwei that had been purged by Yu Xian were the old man's people. Zhu Gaosui was just an employee, so how could he order and make trouble as he pleased? Not only was the request to expand the staff not approved, but he was also scolded.

The prince felt that things would get out of control very quickly, but he never expected that he would be the first to suffer. When the memorial about the military officers and nobles of Huating being killed by the soldiers was delivered to him, he realized that his trip to Songjiang Prefecture was not simple. He ignored the risks of this matter and went to question his father why he killed so many people.

Not only did he not get an answer, he was also punished, which caused a huge political storm.

Zhu Di was furious that the crown prince, who was no longer the regent, was able to obtain memorials. He took advantage of the situation and ordered the crown prince to be confined to the Eastern Palace. All the officials who had privately delivered memorials to the crown prince and the officials of the Eastern Palace were arrested and imprisoned.