King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 635: Good job, cheer up and don’t lose face!

To be honest, the emperor's performance in the past two years also made Zhu Jinghong feel very conflicted.

On the one hand, the old man was very wary of him and only gave him temporary assignments and then restricted him after completing the task, whether he went to the northwest or Liaodong.

But Lao Liu is different. His Jixian Hall is still there, and he is also assigned to rectify the Maritime Customs.

This shows that in the emperor's mind, Zhu Jinghong posed a greater threat.

But on the other hand, the emperor trusted Zhu Jinghong's judgment on some military and national affairs and often asked for his views and opinions.

Training the imperial guards, commanding the northwest campaign, enthroning the Korean monarch, and now the Luzon affairs...

All these indicate that Zhu Jinghong's ability has been recognized by the emperor. Although he has the emperor's favor, he will definitely be on guard against it.

This is a very mysterious state. The Crown Prince and the Sixth Brother are also in it, but the three brothers have different feelings.

Seeing Zhu Jinghong hesitate, Zhu Xianming looked up and asked, "Haven't you made up your mind yet?"

"Dad, my son thought we were going to save him!"

"First, Luzon is a vassal state and serves the imperial court wholeheartedly. It would be morally unacceptable if we do not save it!"

"Secondly, once this matter spreads, the imperial court will not help the vassal states, and they will all think that the Ming Dynasty is weak. I'm afraid that someone will become disloyal again!"

The biggest reason for the rebellion of Dzungar and Zasak was that they believed that the Ming Dynasty was no longer strong enough and felt that they had the strength to challenge the imperial court, so the emperor had to kill these traitors even if it meant losing money.

"Third, if one is alone, the other will be in danger. Luzon is the gateway to the sea for the Ming Dynasty. We must not let the Western barbarians control it!"

The last point is what Zhu Jinghong wanted to talk about, so he continued: "India in the west is occupied by Britain and France, Junggar is in turmoil due to the interference of the Russian Kingdom, and the rebellion in Japan and Korea in the east is also caused by foreigners..."

"Now... the Western Barbarians are causing chaos in the southern sea again. Dad, don't you see that they are trying to lock us down step by step from the east, south, west and north!"

The seriousness of the matter immediately increased several levels after Zhu Jinghong said this.

Zhu Xianming only thought of the first two points. He had a vague feeling about the third point, but he still didn't see it as clearly as Zhu Jinghong.

Now, after listening to his introduction, Zhu Xianming couldn't help but be shocked, thinking that he almost missed something big.

At this time, Zhu Jinghong was still speaking.

"Dad, the times and the world are changing. You have to open up your horizons..."

Zhu Jinghong had said many times to open up the situation, and each time he hit the emperor's soft spot, making him feel particularly uncomfortable.

But before the emperor could get angry, Zhu Jinghong continued, "During the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou emperors stayed in the Central Plains. During the Han and Tang dynasties, they traveled far to the Western Regions. During the Yuan Dynasty, they had already fought tens of thousands of miles away. We can't just focus on our own little piece of land!"

"We should not have the intention to harm others, but we must be on guard against them. Those who are not of our race must have different intentions. We must deal with the rebellion of the barbarians seriously!"

Listening to Zhu Jinghong's endless talk, Zhu Xianming had to admit that this kid was indeed very visionary.

Moreover, he has the potential to be a ruler, judging from the past and present and looking at the world...

What the hell am I thinking? Does this kid look like a master? But this kid is really bold, really...

Zhu Xianming found that he was getting more and more biased, so he simply stopped thinking about it. Then he looked at Zhu Jinghong and said coldly: "It's just empty talk, just empty talk!"

"If you have nothing to do, just go away... Remember this, don't mess up the negotiation with the Junggars this time!"

Zhu Jinghong also had some understanding of the emperor's temper, and he knew that the emperor had already heard what he had just said.

The reason why he finally denied himself was just the most basic method used by an emperor.

"Yes... my son will definitely do a good job!"

At this moment, Cheng Ying reported that the prince had arrived, so Zhu Xianming asked Zhu Jinghong to leave.

"Yes... my son is leaving!"

After leaving Longwu Hall, Zhu Jinghong met the prince, so he immediately stepped forward to greet him.

After the polite greetings, Zhu Jinghong could not help but complain, "Fourth brother... Old Six has been picking on me recently and has harmed people who used to work with me. You have to do justice for me in this matter!"

Zhu Jingyuan had known about this matter for a long time. He pretended to be ignorant under the instructions of Xu Xin'an and had been avoiding Zhu Jinghong recently.

Now that he encountered this situation, Zhu Jingyuan felt very embarrassed and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"Fourth brother, you won't just sit there and do nothing, right?" Zhu Jinghong pressed again.

"Thirteenth brother, are the things you said true?"

"Of course it's true!"

Not wanting the prince to change the subject, Zhu Jinghong immediately asked, "Fourth brother, are you willing to help me?"

"I...if this is true and Lao Liu is definitely wrong, I will not sit idly by and do nothing!"

Zhu Jingyuan's words were very conservative, but Zhu Jinghong didn't care and said immediately: "Since Fourth Brother is willing to help me, then I can rest assured!"

"Fourth brother, I would like to ask you..."

Just as Zhu Jinghong was about to "make arrangements", Cheng Ying came out from the palace gate, bowed and said, "Prince, the Lord wants you to come in!"

In the past, meeting the emperor made Zhu Jingyuan feel troubled, but now he could use this opportunity to get rid of Zhu Jinghong, which was great news for Zhu Jingyuan.

"Thirteenth brother, we can talk later. I'm going to see father first!"

"Fourth brother, please go ahead. I will wait for you at the East Palace!"

"Well... uh... okay, okay..."

Zhu Jingyuan felt uncomfortable, but he still had to put on a smile, which was really difficult for him.

In this way, the two brothers separated, and Zhu Jingyuan was able to enter the Longwu Gate.

When he came to the emperor's side, the prince asked the same question as Zhu Jinghong, which was about his opinion on seeking help from Luzon.

The prince has indeed become more wise in the past two years, but he does not even have the vision to be a king who can maintain the status quo, so naturally he cannot think too deeply or far.

What about Luzon being isolated overseas, what about the imperial court being out of reach, what about militarism making life miserable for the people...

Zhu Jingyuan put forward several arguments, almost all of which hit the nail on the head. The emperor was almost angry to death after hearing them.

Fortunately, Zhu Xianming was very shrewd, or perhaps because his expectations were too low, so although he was angry in his heart, his face remained calm in the end.

"Your Highness, you can open your mind a little more. Go back and think about it carefully!"

Knowing that he had not answered well, the prince was now used to it, so he leaned forward and replied, "Yes!"

"Recently, the Imperial Censor impeached that there were illegal activities in the army during the previous battle in the northwest... Do you know about this?"

Zhu Jingyuan was stunned. He didn't know how to answer at this moment.

"Son...I heard a little about it!" Zhu Jingyuan didn't dare to lie.

Picking up the teacup again, Zhu Xianming asked slowly, "What do you think about this matter? Should we enforce the law impartially, or should we punish him with severity and let him go?"

There is no doubt that this is another test for the prince, and can be regarded as a resurrection match from the previous game.

"Dad, the Northwest is currently at war. I don't think it's appropriate to severely punish the meritorious soldiers in the past..."

These words finally made Zhu Xianming somewhat satisfied. Although the prince had always been disappointing, he had made some progress after all.

At this time, Zhu Jingyuan continued, "Those followers of Sixth Brother are stirring up trouble to gain reputation for being upright. Their actions are truly punishable by death!"

Pointing out that the censor was stirring up trouble was not a crime, but pointing out that these people were Lao Liu's followers was like exposing the feud between brothers, which showed that Zhu Jingyuan was still too shallow. The extra points for the first sentence just now were now offset by the two.

But then, Zhu Jingyuan continued to speak.

"It's just that...Thirteenth brother is good at marching and fighting, but he is still too lenient with his subordinates, which is why all these things happened!"

At this moment, Zhu Xianming really couldn't bear it anymore.

He chose the fourth son as the crown prince not only because of his status as the eldest son, but also because of his gentle personality.

But now, the prince has attacked his two brothers one after another, which is tantamount to denying his own advantages.

"Prince, are you done?" Zhu Xianming remained calm.

What he was thinking at this moment was that perhaps he should really consider changing the crown prince. The country must not be handed over to such a fool.

"My son said... he's done!"

"Then you should go back first!"

After hesitating for two seconds, Zhu Jingyuan bent his waist and said, "Yes... I'll take my leave!"

Zhu Jingyuan just returned to the East Palace, and sure enough, Zhu Jinghong was waiting for him in the mansion.

Although he was in a bad mood, he still had to greet Zhu Jinghong, and the two of them chatted nonsense for a long time.

After finally getting rid of Zhu Jinghong, Zhu Jingyuan immediately found Xu Xin'an and others and told them about today's audience.

They analyzed a lot of things, but unfortunately they still failed to fully understand the Holy Will and did not realize the seriousness of the matter.

In a blink of an eye, it was the second day, and the third session of the examination was declared over, and this spring examination was officially over.

The students were discussing the test questions, while the attention of the government and the public was focused on tomorrow's trial.

The chief judge, Zhang Rulin, was a seventh-rank censor of Gansu warehouses. Normally, he was an unknown figure in the court.

But because he was appointed as the chief judge, he immediately became the focus of the court. In the past two days, countless people came to visit him to encourage and support him.

With the support of these people, Zhang Rulin became more confident and even had the spirit of being willing to "die for death" even if he failed.

Therefore, Zhang Rulin could not wait to open the court, to uphold justice on behalf of the civil officials and scholars, and to teach those unruly and arrogant warriors a lesson.

February 16, the 14th year of Zhengtong.

In the lobby of the second gate of the Censorate, officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of War, the Dali Temple and other departments had already taken their seats. With their manipulation, he was able to get himself into the position of spectator.

The chief judge Zhang Rulin has taken his seat. Although he has the most seniority and the lowest rank, he is now sitting in the middle.

On his left and right were two jurors, both of whom were censors from Gansu Province. They jointly participated in the impeachment.

As for the senior officials of the Censorate headquarters, none of them came from the rank of Assistant Censor-in-Chief, including Wang Pei'an who had already returned to Beijing.

So the layout of this lobby is actually very strange.

At this moment, a large number of generals had gathered outside the gate of the Censorate. In addition to the twenty or thirty people who were impeached, there were another thirty-four who came to watch the fun.

These generals were all of around fifth or sixth rank, and although their ranks were not high, they were the backbone of the army and were ruthless men who commanded troops and fought on the front lines.

At this moment, regardless of whether or not the people present were impeached, they were all excited and cursing. If it weren't for the national law stopping them, they would have resorted to violence this morning.

"You're just nitpicking. This is a special way to discipline us..."

"We fought to the death on the battlefield, but were slandered by these little people. These people are really hateful..."

"Although we are warriors and don't have their tricks, we are not cowards who can be bullied..."

"Yes, we will meet him today. I don't believe that white can be said to be black..."

These generals, as the backbone of the army, have all waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, so they are naturally very aggressive when they are enraged.

The soldiers of the Yiwei Division guarding inside and outside the Censorate all felt the pressure at this moment, and were already thinking about how they could do their duty to calm the situation if a fight broke out later.

The time soon came to three quarters past noon, and the time scheduled for the trial had arrived.

I saw a clerk walked out of the hall, stood on the steps and glanced at everyone, and then read aloud: "Zhou Shoujun, deputy captain of the Chuanwu Bordered Left Guard, and Shen Jinxun, lieutenant general of the Guoyong Left Guard, came to the hall to answer!"

The two people who were chosen were a sixth-rank official in the Imperial Guard and a fifth-rank official in the Beijing Camp.

Among them, Zhou Shoujun was younger and was once one of Zhu Jinghong's guards. They were confidants who had agreed to "never let each other down."

"Brother Zhou, Old Shen...we all came out of a pile of corpses, so please don't lose face!" an elderly general encouraged.

Then someone else said, "We are not afraid of the powerful rebels, so how can we be afraid of these sour scholars?"

"Just... be more energetic!"

"Tao..." Zhou Shoujun flicked his sleeves. He was already full of enthusiasm.

Then he stepped forward and walked towards the lobby with a menacing look.

Behind him, Shen Jinxun bowed and said goodbye to everyone, then walked inside resolutely with his hands behind his back.

Their performance satisfied all the generals present, and they all cheered.

"Well done..."

"So spirited..."

Shen Jinxun was older and of a higher official rank, so he quickened his pace to catch up, wanting to answer before Zhou Shoujun.

After all, for him, today is a good opportunity to spread his reputation, and if handled well it will be beneficial to his career in the future.

The two of them entered the lobby. Shen Jinxun was waiting for Zhang Rulin to ask questions, but unexpectedly Zhou Shoujun had already spoken.

"Zhang Rulin, I'm your mother..."

"You are just a warehouse inspector, a mere seventh-rank official. Why are you showing off here?"

"Damn it... If I hadn't fought on the battlefield and repelled the Junggar rebels, would you have been able to run wild in the northwest?"

"Now that you've had your fill, you put down your bowl and start cursing... Who the hell are you?"

Zhang Rulin had only been an official for a few years and had not experienced too many storms. Now he was scolded so harshly on the spot that he was completely paralyzed.

Things were developing far from what he had expected, and he was totally unprepared for how to deal with it.

None of the jurors on his left and right expressed their support at this moment, because they were also shocked.

As for the people from the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, they just stood there to watch the fun. Only Wang Xiu, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, who was present, spoke.

"Zhou Shoujun, watch your words. This is the lobby of the Censorate, not your military camp!"

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of War was in charge of matters such as promotions and selections in the army. His words carried a lot of weight and at least made Zhou Shoujun calm down a little.

At this moment, Shen Jinxun was staring blankly at Zhou Shoujun beside him, feeling that the young people nowadays are so powerful.

As for Zhang Rulin, with the help of Wang Xiu, he finally woke up from his shock and thought about countermeasures.

First of all, for him it was just to save face, otherwise he would not be able to continue trying the case.

(End of this chapter)