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

These nobles from Huaixi who had already retired and returned to their hometowns were quite apprehensive, thinking that after retiring, they would become ordinary people without power or influence.

The imperial court will no longer care about him.

After all, their main reason for agreeing to retire and return to their hometown was that they were worried that the retired Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang would hold them accountable!
Throughout history, founding emperors have often treated their meritorious officials with cruelty.

All they wanted was a safe landing.

As for the benefits that Ouyang Lun had set for them, although they were tempted, they were also prepared to accept them if Ouyang Lun went back on his word.

But to their utter surprise, they had just completed the procedures for retiring and returning to their hometown.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue immediately sent people to find them.

The Ministry of Personnel established a special office called the "Office of Veteran Cadres," a name reportedly chosen by the imperial son-in-law, Ouyang Lun.

It's specifically for serving these retired "veteran cadres." If they have any problems, they can just go directly to the Veteran Cadre Bureau.

The Ministry of Revenue will open a special bank account for each of them, which will be their dedicated account for doing business in the future.

All profits and investments are made through this account, which is managed by the Ministry of Revenue. They also have the right to withdraw funds.

After that, they were arranged to attend classes in the elite class of the business school.

After just one lesson, these nobles from Huaixi exclaimed that they had learned a lot.

They were truly narrow-minded in the past; they never knew there were so many interesting things in the world!

Everyone's desire to go into business and make money reached its peak.

Of course, not all the nobles of Huaixi wanted to go into business to make money. Some of them still wanted to return to their hometowns to farm, and the "Old Cadre Bureau" had already made arrangements for them.

These noble families from Huaixi were sent to technical schools to further improve their farming knowledge.

These nobles from Huaixi were originally farmers who thought they knew the land and farming very well and didn't need to learn anything. But after taking one lesson, they were completely bewitched.

"So this is how you can plant crops!"

"Yield of 1,000 jin per mu. Pesticides used."

With these new arrangements, the retired nobles of Huaixi seemed to have been given a second spring!
And so, some old men in the capital city started taking classes again.

They often went to and from school together, and whenever they had free time, they would gather in restaurants, teahouses, or nightclubs!

You can often see happy smiles on their faces.

"If I had known that retirement life would be so comfortable, why would I have followed the old prime minister and lived in fear!"

"Still calling him 'Old Prime Minister'? To his face, I'll politely call him 'Duke of Han,' but if I don't like him, I'll just call him 'Li Shanchang'!"

"That's right! Over the years, Li Shanchang has been trying to win us over to oppose the Prince Consort. He's been badmouthing the Prince Consort to us every day!"

"Now it seems that Li Shanchang was the worst person!"

"Speaking of this, I feel we have truly let down the Prince Consort. We did a lot of work alongside Li Shanchang to deal with him, but now it's the Prince Consort who's in charge of us!"

"Have you noticed that ever since we retired and returned to our hometown, Li Shanchang, Lan Yu, and those people have completely ignored us? Why? It's because we're no longer of any use to them."

"Time will tell! I won't comment on Li Shanchang, but the Prince Consort is definitely a true man!"

"Our son-in-law has put aside past grievances and arranged a wonderful and fulfilling retirement for us. We are so lucky!"

"I shudder to think about it now. If we had actually believed Li Shanchang's nonsense and gone against the Prince Consort, would we be living the life we ​​have now?"

"Everyone, we're safely ashore now. Let's see what tricks Li Shanchang has up his sleeve."

These retired nobles from Huaixi have now completely changed their attitude towards Li Shanchang.

After all, they're not stupid, and they don't care whether these words get out.

These words naturally reached Li Shanchang's ears.

The Korean government office.

lifeless.

Li Shanchang sat in the head seat, followed by Lan Yu, Huang Zicheng, and other core members of the Huaixi Party.

Their faces were as ugly as could be.

“Those traitors, now that they’ve eaten Ouyang Lun’s food, they’ve turned their backs on him!”

"Damn it, I really want to grab a knife and chop all these guys to pieces!"

"They betrayed us first, and now they're acting like this, it's disgusting!"

"They were crying and begging us to take them with us back then!"

Lan Yu raised her head and looked at Li Shanchang, "Duke of Han, what should we do now? Do you still have that idea?"

Huang Zicheng said, "Duke of Liang, don't worry. Now that the Emperor Emeritus has agreed to allow the nobles of Huaixi to retire and return to their hometowns, he probably won't make things too difficult for us!"

Just then, a nobleman from Huaixi spoke up: "Why don't we retire and return to our hometowns?"

"Given the current situation, we are no match for Ouyang Lun. Rather than dragging this out, we might as well retire and return to our hometown. Perhaps we can end up like the previous batch!"

After these words were spoken, the hall fell silent.

"Retreat?!" Huang Zicheng sneered. "Gentlemen, if we had retreated when the Emperor Emeritus sent his message, we might still have had a chance. But now..."

"Let alone the Emperor Emeritus, I'm afraid Ouyang Lun won't let you off the hook either!"

These words caused an uproar in the hall.

"What can we do now? With Ouyang Lun's power, wouldn't it be incredibly easy for him to deal with us?"

"I should have known better than to offend Ouyang Lun so badly."

"I don't understand either. Why do we have to go against Ouyang Lun? Even if we're political enemies, there's no need to escalate things to this point!"

"How about we try to reconcile with Ouyang Lun privately? Maybe that way we can still get along harmoniously."

"I'm afraid Ouyang Lun wouldn't do that."

While the Huaixi Party officials were discussing the matter, Li Shanchang raised his hand.

Seeing this, everyone shut up and then turned all their attention to Li Shanchang, their eyes filled with hope.

"I am well aware of your thoughts!"

Li Shanchang spoke in a low voice, his cloudy eyes sweeping over everyone present, and slowly said, "Everyone here is the core of the Huaixi Party!"

"When the Huaixi Party was at its peak, you all benefited greatly. Now that the Huaixi Party has declined, are you all going to leave too?!"

"Or even become a disciple of Ouyang Lun?"

Upon hearing this, apart from Lan Yu and Huang Zicheng, the other Huaixi Party officials all looked somewhat uneasy.

"This"

"Your Excellency, you have truly misunderstood us!"

"We are members of the Huai-Xi Party, and we will die as members of the Huai-Xi Party. We will never be like those opportunists!"

"That's it!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang slowly nodded, "It's not the best, and it's alright if you have this thought in your hearts. It's human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages." "However, I must remind you that all the officials under Ouyang Lun are truly talented, capable, and pragmatic!"

"They hate those who hold positions without doing their jobs and who are corrupt and lawless the most. Do you think that even if you join the prince consort's faction, what good will your end be?"

"I assure you, if you really go there, your fate will be even worse than if you stayed here!"

Upon hearing Li Shanchang's words, the faces of the Huaixi Party officials became even more grim.

Lan Yu smiled and said, "Duke of Han, don't scare them. They already understand that they have no chance of survival if they stay with the Huai Xi Party!"

"Let me put it this way, we haven't lost yet, and we even have a chance to turn things around. As long as we win, the Ming Dynasty court will still belong to our Huaixi Party!"

"What can we do then?"

"Even if we lose, the worst that can happen is death. We old brothers have crawled out of piles of corpses, are we afraid of dying?"

Li Shanchang glanced at Lan Yu with some surprise; this didn't sound like something Lan Yu would say.

It seems that Lan Yu's past experiences have helped him grow a lot, which makes Li Shanchang somewhat gratified.

"Lan Yu is right. The Emperor Emeritus didn't completely rule out anything, which means we still have a chance!"

"Don't worry, I will fight for what is rightfully yours. In any case, at least for now you still hold real power!"

"As long as we retain power, we haven't lost yet!"

"Do you remember the request I made to the Emperor Emeritus in court that day? Although the Emperor Emeritus did not agree at the time, I believe that the situation will change after some time!"

"Even if we retire and return to our hometowns, our conditions will definitely be better than those traitors! They'll be the ones envying us and regretting it then!"

When Li Shanchang said this, his tone was exceptionally calm, as if everything was under his control.

After hearing Li Shanchang's words, the Huaixi Party officials, who had been somewhat nervous and fearful, calmed down considerably.

Following Li Shanchang's line of thought, they realized that Li Shanchang was right, after all, they were all founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, everyone even addressed each other as brothers.

If they truly wished to retire and return to their hometowns, Zhu Yuanzhang would certainly not treat them unfairly.

Even if Zhu Yuanzhang didn't offer them favorable conditions, he certainly wouldn't punish them excessively, since the whole world was watching!
Li Shanchang also understood Zhu Yuanzhang quite well. What Zhu Yuanzhang cared about most now was his posthumous reputation, and he absolutely did not want the infamy of killing meritorious officials.

half a month later.

The first group of retired nobles from Huaixi successfully graduated from business school and officially began their retirement life.

Although their real power had been taken away, the "Old Cadres Division" did not make these Huaixi nobles lose face!

A grand farewell ceremony was held.

Major newspapers began publicizing the achievements of these meritorious nobles from Huaixi several days in advance, dedicating special columns to their reports!

The entire capital was as lively as during the Spring Festival, with the "retired" nobles of Huaixi riding tall horses and wearing red flowers on their chests.

The streets were lined with people who came to see him off.

"Heroes of the Ming Dynasty!"

"A meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty!"

The people cheered.

Emperor Zhu Biao himself came to see them off, a very high honor!
"My uncles and elders! Everything you have done for the Ming Dynasty will be remembered by me and the people!"

"I hope you can enjoy your old age in peace and tranquility!"

"I toast you all!"

The retired nobles of Huaixi were both surprised and delighted, but more than anything, they were deeply moved!
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, we will certainly continue our efforts to contribute to the maritime trade of our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty, this old minister will certainly work hard in farming so that the people of my Great Ming Dynasty can not only eat their fill, but also eat well!"

"We were ignorant in the past, please forgive us, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Biao nodded in satisfaction. "Uncles and elders, Father Emperor was originally going to come in person today, but he was worried that he would be reluctant to see you go, so he specially sent me to see you off!"

"Father said that what's past is past, and he hopes that all my uncles will be safe and well in the future!"

A grand retirement ceremony also served as a farewell.

It caused a sensation throughout the capital, and major newspapers published it on their front pages the next day!
The imperial court dismissed the bloated Huaixi nobles, who were then settled smoothly, and the people felt the benevolence of the court!
In short, this is a win-win situation for all!
Inside the Taile Palace.

After seeing off the first group of nobles from Huaixi, Zhu Biao took the initiative to come here to report to Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Everyone's gone, right?"

"Reporting to Father Emperor, they've all left! Most of them went to sea with the imperial merchant ships to trade around the world, while some returned to their hometowns to farm!"

“Everyone has a specific destination in mind, and these are all choices they made themselves.”

"Good, good! These old buddies probably won't see this, that's fine too!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were filled with tears.

"If Father misses them, he can summon them to the capital. Besides, some of the nobles from Huaixi are willing to retire in the capital."

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was in a bad mood, Zhu Biao quickly comforted him.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang's mood became increasingly low.

Just as Zhu Biao was about to continue comforting him, he heard Zhu Yuanzhang mutter, "Damn it. It's been so long, and we haven't sold a single foot massage tub!"

"We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building the factory, selecting raw materials, and recruiting workers, but we lost everything!"

"If only we had known, we should have let each of these retired nobles from Huaixi buy one! What a blunder!"

Forehead.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao's face darkened.

This is what saddened Father Emperor!
"Father, I remember my brother-in-law saying that your massage foot bath tub was priced too high and no one would be willing to buy it. Why is that?!"

Zhu Biao asked, puzzled.

"Ahem." Zhu Yuanzhang coughed awkwardly twice. "We just wanted to give it a try!"

"Anyway, Ouyang Lun gave us some money, so we're thinking of using it to start this massage foot bath business. Then we can slap that Ouyang Lun in the face!"

"We just didn't expect that the massage foot bath tubs we put so much effort into making would not sell a single one!"

"Biao'er, what do you think we should do?!"

Zhu Biao wasn't very knowledgeable about business either. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Father, winning and losing are common occurrences in war, and there's no such thing as a sure thing in business."

"Why don't we just leave it at that? If these massage foot bath tubs aren't too expensive, I'll buy them all!"

"Consider it supporting Father's cause!"

"How can that be allowed?!" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head. "The money was given by Ouyang Lun anyway, so it's okay if we lose it. But if word gets out, where will we put our face?"

"Biao'er, go and call Ouyang Lun over for us!" (End of Chapter)