Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

"Li Shanchang, it's already this late, are you still going to argue with me?"

"Before you start to argue, take a look at this!"

Zhu Yuanzhang threw Zhou Ji's letter of incrimination in front of Li Shanchang.

Li Shanchang picked up the indictment on the ground with trembling hands, slowly opened it and read the contents. The more he read, the tighter his brows furrowed.

After reading it, Li Shanchang slowly closed the indictment and took a deep breath, "Your Majesty, Zhou Ji instigated the Prince of Xiang to rebel, which is a heinous crime, but I, this old minister, had no idea about it at all!"

"Although it is unclear why Zhou Ji wants to accuse me, this is absolutely a slander, an accusation without any evidence!"

"Please Your Majesty, please look into this!"

"Catching?! You want us to investigate clearly?!" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice suddenly raised, "This is Zhou Ji's confession letter, with Zhou Ji's handprint on it. Are you trying to tell us that the Jinyiwei confessed under torture?!"

"Um!?"

"I dare not!" Li Shanchang naturally suspected that the Jinyiwei were behind this, but he did not dare to offend the Jinyiwei again at this time.

Before Li Shanchang could say anything else, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke again, "Li Shanshang, let me ask you, Zhou Ji's confession said that he was your disciple and had been working for you. Is this true?"

"This is indeed true. Zhou Ji has some ability and once came to my house to pay a visit. Seeing that he is smart, I gave him some tasks to do. However, I, the emperor, have never asked him to instigate the King of Xiang to rebel!"

Li Shanchang spoke quickly.

"But Zhou Ji said in this confession that it was your suggestion that he instigated the Prince of Xiang to rebel, and you also asked him to find a way to get rid of Ouyang Lun who went to quell the rebellion! How do you explain it!?" Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask.

"Nonsense!" Li Shanchang was very excited, but when he looked up and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, he immediately shrank his head, "Your Majesty, I really didn't instruct Zhou Ji!"

"Your Majesty, please have Zhou Ji called over. I am willing to confront him face to face!"

Zhu Yuanzhang heard this and thought about it and felt that it made sense. He immediately looked at Ji Gang and said, "Ji Gang, go and bring Zhou Ji up!"

"Yes!"

Ji Gang received the order and retreated quietly.

Li Shanchang was delighted and hope ignited in his heart. As long as he could confront Zhou Ji, he could make Zhou Ji reveal his flaws. Even if Zhou Ji bit him to death, the retired emperor Zhu Yuanzhang would naturally be able to tell that he was bitten, and the possibility of him being rescued would be very high.

Li Shanchang even raised his head and glanced at Ouyang Lun who was hiding far away, revealing a hint of pride!
Ouyang Lun ah Ouyang Lun!
You want to kill me, but unfortunately, I am an old minister who followed the retired emperor to build his kingdom, and the retired emperor will not bear to see me fall like this.

Once the suspicion on me is resolved, I will definitely ask Your Majesty to exonerate me. Then you, the mastermind behind this, will not be able to escape!

Ouyang Lun was speechless at Li Shanchang's look. He was just watching the show, and he didn't expect to be treated with hostility by Li Shanchang. Wait, this old man Li Shanchang wouldn't think that I was the one who harmed him! ?
Well, it's possible.

Time passed little by little, and Ji Gang finally walked into Taile Palace again, but Zhou Ji was not behind him.

"Reporting to the Emperor, Zhou Ji bit his tongue and committed suicide in prison."

what! ?

The person who was most shocked when he heard the news was not Zhu Yuanzhang, but Li Shanchang.

died!

Why did he die!
Now that Zhou Ji is dead, what should I do?
The hope in Li Shanchang's heart was shattered at this moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang only frowned slightly at Zhou Ji's death, and then said: "Li Shanchang, it seems that this is the arrangement of fate."

"The Great Emperor!"

Li Shanchang kowtowed and said, "Although my eyesight is dim, I will never commit treason!"

"This old minister's loyalty to the Emperor and the Ming Dynasty is evident to all!"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked down at Li Shanchang who was kneeling in front of him and fell into silence. After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, "Li Shanchang, we have given you many chances!"

"But you disappoint me so much."

Zhu Yuanzhang then threw a booklet at Li Shanchang, "This is the impeachment memorial from the censor, which lists all your crimes. We don't need too many memorials like this!"

Li Shanchang felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave when listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's words. His whole body trembled uncontrollably. Based on his understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang, it was obvious that he wanted to kill him this time.

I felt a breath of death enveloping me.

"Your Majesty, I have indeed made many mistakes, but please, Your Majesty, for the sake of my many years of service to the Ming Dynasty, please spare my life!"

At this moment, Li Shanchang no longer cared about his dignity and knelt on the ground and made a pleading request to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Only if you survive will everything have meaning.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Li Shanchang again, his eyes filled with anger and a hint of pity, but it was quickly covered by coldness.

"Li Shanchang, you have made contributions to the Ming Dynasty, so we will give you a decent treatment!"

"Break it yourself."

what--

When Li Shanchang heard this, he felt as if all his strength had been drained away and he fell to the ground powerlessly.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Shanchang thought of countless ways in his mind, but none of them could save his life. He was completely desperate.

Although they are unwilling in their hearts, "self-committing" is indeed a decent way to die, and it will not bring trouble to their families. They can even continue to enjoy wealth and glory under the protection of their own merits!

It’s just a pity that Ouyang Lun won again this time.

Ouyang Lun must be very happy at this time.

Just when Li Shanchang thought everything was over, another voice was heard in Taile Palace.

"Your Majesty, can I have a word with you?"

Swish--

For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shanchang, Ji Gang, Wang Zhong and everyone in the hall focused their eyes on Ouyang Lun, who had been silent the whole time and whom everyone was about to forget about.

"If you have to fart, just fart now!" Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.

Li Shanchang gave a bitter smile. In his opinion, Ouyang Lun spoke at this time just to add insult to injury and humiliate him. This was a normal move, after all, he had done this in the past.

I just never thought that I would end up like this day.

Thinking of this, Li Shanchang closed his eyes in despair.

Ouyang Lun yawned, then slowly walked to the middle of the hall, glanced at Li Shanchang who was lying on the ground, and then bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "The emperor is so wise! I admire you!"

"In my opinion, Duke Han has at least three major crimes!"

"This is the first major crime. Duke Hanguo is already in his seventies, but he still covets power and is reluctant to give up his throne. He also keeps cultivating cliques. Over the years, many of Duke Hanguo's cliques have gotten into trouble! Zhou Ji is just one of them!"

As expected, Ouyang Lun came here to add insult to injury!

Li Shanchang felt a chill in his heart.

Wait! Something's wrong.

Just now, Ouyang Lun listed his crimes. Although he openly said that he cultivated a clique, he did not accuse himself of instructing Zhou Ji to instigate Prince Xiang to rebel.

There is a huge difference between the crime of cultivating a clique and that of rebellion!
Li Shanchang couldn't help but secretly glance at Ouyang Lun. Could this guy be trying to save me? !
But Li Shanchang quickly put this idea to rest.

He had repeatedly opposed Ouyang Lun and even wanted to kill him many times. How could Ouyang Lun possibly speak for him at this time!
It's impossible!

Ouyang Lun continued, "The second biggest crime is that Duke Hanguo, as the former prime minister of the Ming Dynasty and now also a cabinet scholar and a role model for civil servants, failed to keep an eye on Zhou Ji, a cancer of the Ming Dynasty. This is absolutely an oversight!"

Um! ?

Just an oversight! ?
Li Shanchang was stunned when he heard this. If he was only guilty of negligence, then there would be no need to commit suicide!
Could it be that Ouyang Lun was really saving himself?

Perhaps the first two crimes were just a prelude, and Ouyang Lun wanted to use the third crime to crucify me!

"As for the third biggest crime of Duke Han, it is that he cannot understand the good intentions of the retired emperor! The retired emperor is extremely wise and can be called the greatest emperor in history. He treats the founding heroes very well and will definitely not let future generations say that the retired emperor killed the heroes!"

"It's just so confusing!"

Ouyang Lun shook his head repeatedly after he finished speaking.

Then the Taile Hall fell into silence.

Forehead.
After hearing what Ouyang Lun said, Zhu Yuanzhang's heart immediately began to waver. To be honest, as he grew older, Zhu Yuanzhang's desire to kill Li Shanchang became stronger and stronger. Even if there was no incident with the Prince of Xiang, Zhu Yuanzhang would have found other opportunities to take action against Li Shanchang.

After all, Li Shanchang is older than Zhu Yuanzhang, but the old guy is in very good health. According to the news from the Jinyiwei, Li Shanchang can still make love with women.

If Zhu Yuanzhang died one day, with Li Shanchang's prestige and power, Emperor Zhu Biao and Ouyang Lun might not be able to suppress him.

Therefore, while Zhu Yuanzhang is still able to move, it is a good choice to get rid of Li Shanchang.

But Ouyang Lun's words just now made Zhu Yuanzhang change his mind. The first two points were nothing more than Ouyang Lun telling him that Li Shanchang might really have nothing to do with the rebellion of Prince Xiang. Of course, the most important point was the third point, killing the founding heroes!
Zhu Yuanzhang cared a lot about his reputation after his death. If he was branded as a murderer of a meritorious official because of killing Li Shanchang, it would tarnish his reputation as "the greatest emperor of all time". Although Zhu Yuanzhang had killed many meritorious officials of the founding of the country, as long as he did not take action against Li Shanchang, Li Shanchang would be his living signboard!
Moreover, now that Zhou Ji is dead, there is no more direct evidence to prove that Li Shanchang was involved in the rebellion of Prince Xiang, which would inevitably lead to gossip.

snort!
Anyway, my body is still very strong and I may not outlive Li Shanchang. It is indeed urgent to kill Li Shanchang now.

Let Li Shanchang go first, and wait until my health is really bad before taking action.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke again, his words were no longer as angry as before, "Humph! Li Shanchang, you are really guilty of a heinous crime, and you are also extremely foolish!"

"You can't even tell who your subordinates are. You really are old and your eyes are blurry!"

"Don't misunderstand me. We let you end it yourself so that you can reflect on your mistakes. If something similar happens again in the future, I will never let you off easily!"

Ah!
Upon hearing this, Wang Zhong and Ji Gang were stunned.

Your Majesty, your meaning just now is very clear.
Although they were very confused, they were tactful enough not to speak.

Li Shanchang was stunned, and then his whole body seemed to come back to life. It could be said that he had just experienced a life-and-death transition!
"Thank you, Your Majesty. After I leave, I will seriously reflect on my mistakes and ensure that the same thing will not happen again in the future!"

Li Shanchang was afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would change his mind again, so he immediately thanked him loudly.

"Okay, back off!"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand.

"I'm taking my leave!" Li Shanchang slowly got up from the ground and then retreated carefully.

After Li Shanchang left, Zhu Yuanzhang directly dismissed Wang Zhong and Ji Gang as well. Zhu Yuanzhang and Ouyang Lun were the only ones left in the Taile Hall.

"Your Majesty, since the matter has been dealt with, can I also withdraw?"

Ouyang Lun asked immediately.

"Hmph, you kid actually saved Li Shanchang. Is there some conspiracy here?" Zhu Yuanzhang said while staring at Ouyang Lun with his eyes, as if he wanted to take in every subtle expression of Ouyang Lun.

"Your Majesty, please don't talk nonsense. What we just said was Li Shanchang's guilt. There is no reason to plead for Li Shanchang!"

Ouyang Lun spread his hands and said innocently, "Of course, I always seek truth from facts. For example, there is no evidence that Li Shanchang and Zhou Ji colluded to instigate the King of Xiang to rebel, so I did not bring it up!"

"Hehe, you are such a silver-tongued person, do you still think you are fair?" Zhu Yuanzhang said embarrassedly.

"Fair!" Ouyang Lun smiled, "I thank the Emperor for the compliment!"

"When did I ever praise you? Uh... You fooled me again!" Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily, then changed his expression to a serious one, "Ouyang Lun, no matter how you try to argue, I'm sparing Li Shanchang today for your sake. If Li Shanchang does anything to let down the Ming Dynasty in the future, you'll be the first one to be held accountable!"

"Ah! No, Your Majesty, you are being too unreasonable!" Ouyang Lun's face was full of black lines.

"It's decided! You can leave now! I'm a little tired!" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and added: "Send some more Maotai over later, we've finished all the drinks here!"

"." Ouyang Lun's face turned even darker. He nodded and walked out of Taile Palace with a depressed look on his face.

Not long after walking out of here, Ouyang Lun saw Li Shanchang standing at the gate of the clan residence. Ouyang Lun quickly took a defensive posture and said, "Duke Hanguo, although we are political enemies, gentlemen should use words instead of fists. It's fine to just bicker online. There's no need to meet offline!"

"Besides, I have learned martial arts, and you are old, you are no match for me!"

Listening to Ouyang Lun's words, Li Shanchang was a little confused, but he bowed deeply to Ouyang Lun, "Thank you, my Lord, for saving my life today!!" (End of this chapter)