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

"What else can I do if I don't wash my feet?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment and asked curiously.

"Socializing, of course!"

Ouyang Lun said with a smile.

"social contact?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Zhu Biao looked at Ouyang Lun with confusion, just like a student looking at his teacher.

Ouyang Lun nodded.

“Yes, it’s socializing!”

"Normal people have social needs. This person has been proving his own value throughout his life, of course, on the premise of being alive."

“So you need to socialize to show yourself, and Heaven on Earth is the best platform for that!”

"In heaven and earth, you can meet people you can't meet in normal days, and you can do things you can't do in normal days!"

"Foot washing and massage are secondary."

"Your Majesty, do you understand what I am saying?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded dully, then shook his head, "So you mean the foot massage bucket we invented is worthless?!"

"We put a lot of thought into this!"

Ouyang Lun smiled and said, "I didn't say that this is worthless, it's just that it's not worth the price you just mentioned."

"Hmph!" Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head and stopped discussing this matter.

"Ouyang Lun, do you know why we called you here?"

"I don't know!" Ouyang Lun said speechlessly, "I was lying down to have a good sleep, but I was carried back to your Taile Palace, and you forced me to use this massage foot bath."

"It's really hard for me!"

"Your Majesty, you are not really just letting me experience your massage foot bath, are you?"

"Of course not!" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, then turned to Zhu Biao and said, "Biao'er, tell him why we called him here!"

"Brother-in-law, my father and I called you here because we wanted to ask you why you spoke up for Li Shanchang that day. My father has been thinking about this for the past two days and still can't figure it out."

"It caused the emperor to have trouble eating and sleeping. Seeing this, I suggested that the emperor ask you in person, so I invited you, my brother-in-law, to come over."

Zhu Biao immediately began to explain.

"Please?" Ouyang Lun said unhappily, "Your Majesty, tell me yourself, is this what you mean by please?"

"It would be more appropriate to call it kidnapping!"

"Brother-in-law, don't be angry. I apologize to you on behalf of my father. You also know my father's character. I have no choice but to do this!"

Zhu Biao said helplessly.

"Forget it, forget it. No matter how many times I protest to you and your son, you won't change. You Zhu family members are more stubborn than each other!"

Ouyang Lun was also quite helpless.

The more I interact with the Zhu family, the more I find that they all have one thing in common: stubbornness.

Whether it is Zhu Yuanzhang's domineering and unreasonable stubbornness, Zhu Biao's stubbornness about things, or the overt or covert stubbornness of other members of the Zhu family.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Zhu family was able to establish the Ming Dynasty.

The Zhu family also produced many strange people, not to mention Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Zhu Di. In later generations there were also the Oirat students studying abroad, the carpenter emperor, the immortal emperor and the emperor who was hanged on Coal Hill.

Therefore, when dealing with people from the Zhu family, you have to relax and be at ease, otherwise you will be pissed off sooner or later.

"Stubborn? Ouyang Lun, can you speak? We call this firm belief!"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Ouyang Lun with pride after he finished speaking, "This is something you will never learn!"

"Thank you, I don't want to become a stubborn person!" Ouyang Lun rolled his eyes, "Okay, the emperor and your majesty both want to know why I speak for Li Shanchang!"

"The reason is very simple, because in a sense, the Huaixi Party supported part of the Ming Dynasty!"

"If the Ming Dynasty is compared to a palace, then the Huaixi Party is undoubtedly the pillar of this palace, and it is also the most critical pillar!"

"With the existence of the pillar, the Daming Palace will not collapse. If this pillar is removed, the Daming Palace will become a dangerous building!"

"Besides, I am quite satisfied with this pillar and don't want it to be removed now."

"Humph!" Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, "Ouyang Lun, you are so eloquent, you think the Huaixi Party is too important."

"Except for my Zhu family, the Ming Dynasty can still function without anyone else! You too!"

Ouyang Lun did not refute Zhu Yuanzhang's words at all, but nodded, "Yes, the emperor is right."

"It is too easy to deal with the Huaixi Party. The Ming Dynasty will indeed continue to function without the Huaixi Party. It's just that the Emperor wants to ask a question."

"Once the Huaixi Party is completely eliminated, there is no guarantee that the Huaidong Party will not reappear? Or will the emperor be willing to let the so-called Prince Consort Party dominate by then?!"

Ouyang Lun spoke calmly.

In fact, Ouyang Lun had no intention of answering Zhu Yuanzhang's question, but in order to avoid the emergence of other parties after the Huaixi Party was destroyed.

Ouyang Lun could only persuade him with kind words.

"This..." Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment, and said unconvincedly: "Even if what you said makes sense, for the sake of the so-called balance, even if Li Shanchang and the Huaixi Party committed a heinous crime, we will not deal with them?"

"Let them continue to make mistakes?"

"Of course not." Ouyang Lun shook his head. "The emperor should know that in every dynasty, the court disputes are always a one-sided affair!"

"There are always different factions fighting each other. Everyone wants the court to be clean and flawless, but this is impossible. It's like everyone hopes that there are no bad people in the world, only good people."

"Your Majesty, it's impossible to clear everything just by cleaning it up."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao beside them were stunned. At this moment, they also realized this.

"Keep talking!"

Zhu Yuanzhang neither refuted nor commented.

"Your Majesty, the art of being an emperor lies in balance. I believe you two know this better than I do!"

"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the court has gradually calmed down from chaos. The Huaixi Party has done a lot of wrong things and poses a considerable threat to the Ming Dynasty!"

"But the Huaixi Party also did a lot for the Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, it was the Huaixi generals. It was because of these generals as the backbone that the Ming Dynasty army existed!"

"Among the Huaixi civil officials, with Li Shanchang as the core, there are certainly many parasites, but there are also many wise and capable officials. We can't just generalize and kill them all."

"And the most important point is that there is a lack of direct evidence to prove that Li Shanchang was the mastermind behind the rebellion of the Prince of Xiang. It is impossible to be sure that Li Shanchang was involved in planning the rebellion of the Prince of Xiang!"

"Since there is no evidence, according to the standard of presumption of innocence, Li Shanchang should be innocent!"

"Since you are innocent, you cannot be sentenced."

After hearing Ouyang Lun's words, Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Zhu Biao began to think.

"Innocent until proven guilty. This phrase is well used!" Zhu Biao's eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "Father, don't these four words summarize the meaning that we should use evidence for everything and we can't wrongly accuse good people!" Zhu Biao looked up and saw Zhu Yuanzhang glaring at him.

This made Zhu Biao lower his head immediately and was unable to speak anymore.

"Innocent until proven guilty? Ouyang Lun, you may have forgotten that the Jinyiwei has already obtained evidence from Zhou Ji's mouth! This is the evidence!" Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, if Zhang Ji could confront Li Shanchang face to face and expose Li Shanchang's true face, then this evidence would be acceptable, but Zhou Ji is already dead!"

"There is no evidence to prove the truth. It is hard to say whether Zhou Ji's indictment is true. Moreover, I have a copy of Zhou Ji's indictment here, but it does not contain any accusations against Li Shanchang."

"This indictment of the minister also has Zhou Ji's signature and fingerprint. Which one is the real one? Which one is the real one?"

"Or are both true? Both are false!"

Forehead.
After hearing Ouyang Lun's words, Zhu Yuanzhang's face suddenly turned black.

Seeing this, Ouyang Lun continued to speak, "Your Majesty, I have said so much not to defend Li Shanchang!"

"The Huaixi Party must be cleaned up, but I don't think uprooting the entire Huaixi Party is a good idea!"

"If we really eliminate the Huaixi Party completely, the harm to the court will be immeasurable. Instead of eliminating it completely, it is better to reform it step by step!"

"Boiling a frog in warm water is the best way."

After Ouyang Lun finished speaking, Zhu Biao nodded immediately and agreed: "Father, I think what my brother-in-law said makes sense!"

"Not all the officials in the Huaixi Party are corrupt. The more important thing is that the Huaixi Party occupies too many official positions. I have been carrying out administrative reforms, but even so, there are still many officials in the Huaixi Party!"

"If we really want to deal with all of them, there will be a vacuum in both politics and military affairs. Civil officials can slowly fill the gap, and it is easy to do so, but it takes a long time to train a military general."

"Father, don't you want to lead the army to the grassland in person? If you deal with all these Huaixi generals, then you won't have anyone to use when the time comes!"

After hearing Zhu Biao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang fell into silence and thought.

Seeing this, Ouyang Lun and Zhu Biao stopped talking and gave Zhu Yuanzhang time to think.

After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and looked at Zhu Biao first, then at Ouyang Lun.

"You two didn't communicate privately behind our backs, did you?"

"Father, I haven't visited my brother-in-law these days. Whenever I have time, I come to Taile Palace to accompany you and mother. I have no time to communicate with my brother-in-law privately." Zhu Biao shook his head quickly.

"That's right! I was sent to Changsha by you before, and I didn't have time to communicate with Your Majesty at all."

Ouyang Lun also quickly shook his head.

"That's true." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "I also know that what you said makes some sense."

"Ahem. When did I say we would eradicate the Huaixi Party? What I'm asking you is why you don't let me get rid of Li Shanchang!!"

Ouyang Lun and Zhu Biao looked at each other and nodded in tacit understanding.

"Oh, that's right, the emperor never said that, it was just my own assumption!"

"Father, I am overthinking!"

Seeing the two admit their "mistakes", Zhu Yuanzhang's expression improved a lot, and he said with a smile: "Since both of you have realized your mistakes, then I will forgive you two first."

"Now, you two tell me, how should we deal with this matter?"

"We can spare Li Shanchang's life, and we won't treat the Huaixi Party in a one-size-fits-all manner."

Hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Zhu Biao subconsciously looked at Ouyang Lun.

As expected, you have to do it yourself!

Ouyang Lun knew Zhu Biao quite well. Usually, when Zhu Biao had this expression, it meant that he didn't have any good ideas in mind.

"Your Majesty, let me handle this matter!"

"I plan to convene a military cabinet meeting first. The emperor doesn't need to go. Your Majesty can just go when the time comes!"

Without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao to ask, Ouyang Lun started explaining directly.

"The reason why I did this is mainly because the Xiang Prince rebelled and Li Shanchang was hastily summoned to the palace. Although he was not punished, the matter of Taile Palace will probably spread soon."

"The Huaixi Party must be like a frightened bird. We must calm them down first to prevent them from doing something stupid."

Hearing Ouyang Lun's words, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in approval. He had naturally thought of this situation. His previous plan was to attack the Huaixi Party directly. As long as they were dealt with cleanly, he naturally wouldn't have to worry about these things.

"Think it over carefully, and just do as you say."

Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was about to continue asking some details, Wang Zhong hurried in.

"Your Majesty, there are several Huaixi nobles outside."

Hear this.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately smiled and said, "Look, these people have really sharp ears. We just started talking and they have already come to our door."

"Ouyang Lun, what do you think? Should we meet these people or not?"

Ouyang Lun spread his hands and said, "These people are all old ministers who have followed Your Majesty to conquer the world. It's normal for ministers to ask for an audience. There's nothing wrong with meeting them, right?"

"That's true."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Wang Zhong, go and bring them in!"

"Also prepare a foot massage bucket for each of them!"

"Yes!"

Wang Zhong nodded, then turned around to make arrangements.

Soon, the Duke of Song Feng Sheng, the Marquis of Jiangxia Zhou Dexing, the Marquis of Gongchang Guo Xing, and the Marquis of Wuding Guo Ying were brought in, and all of them were arranged to use massage and foot washing buckets.

"Don't just stand there, wash your feet quickly. You need hot water to wash your feet comfortably!"

"This is something we invented. When you use it, you must tell us how it felt!"

"Yes Yes!"

"Okay, Your Majesty!"

Feng Sheng and the other three nodded repeatedly and quickly put their feet into the wooden barrel.

"Oh, by the way, you usually don't come to greet us, why are you here together today?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked while soaking his feet.

Feng Sheng and the others looked at each other, and finally Feng Sheng spoke up: "Your Majesty, our brothers have discussed it and want to retire and return home!"

"We old brothers have been following you since you started the rebellion, fighting all the way to the south and the north, and finally established the Ming Dynasty. Now that we are getting older, we are becoming less and less able to do our job!"

"Instead of occupying the position like this, it is better to step down early and let the younger generation of talents take over!"

"It can also prevent the Emperor and His Majesty from getting into trouble!!"

"But if we leave, we will not be able to serve the Emperor, Your Majesty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!" (End of this chapter)