Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Zhu Yunhuan did not find it strange at all that the civil and military officials seemed to be extremely low-key at this time. They all kept silent and looked as if they knew they were wrong and admitted their mistakes.

The main thing is that once something happens, once a major case is about to break out, before the matter absolutely involves themselves, this is the attitude of all officials.

Zhu Yunhuan no longer exerted further pressure. Some things still needed to be discussed and some things still needed to be decided. Naturally, this meant being more decisive.

"Everyone, get up." Zhu Yunhuan spoke again and said directly, "It's useless to kneel here now. Think carefully about how to deal with these things. This is the most important thing."

The civil and military officials naturally expressed their gratitude first, and then slowly stood up. Many of them seemed to feel a little less stressed.

Since His Majesty has already asked them to stand up and his tone is not so serious anymore, this is naturally a good signal.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Bao Zhao and asked, "You are the Minister of Justice. How do you think this case should be handled?"

Bao Zhao replied cautiously, "Your Majesty, I think this matter is too serious. We should have the court investigate and make a decision after finding out the facts of the case."

It's not that Bao Zhao is slow-tempered, but as the Minister of Justice, he knows that such things must be handled with caution. Not only do we have to worry about false cases, but we also have to worry about acting rashly and causing the situation to get out of control.

After all, the Maritime Customs and the Maritime Trade were handled by the emperor himself, which was a big deal in itself. If such a powerful emperor dealt with it decisively, many people might have died without knowing why.

The other reason is naturally fear. The previous Hongcang case has basically been settled. It was a major case and also a case of corruption.

However, many officials were fortunate because this case mainly involved scholars, local gentry, and some middle and low-level officials, so it was not a big deal for some people.

But this case is different. There are too many government offices involved and the case is indeed quite big. No one dares to have any hope at this time.

Zhu Yunhuan continued to ask, "Since you are talking about investigating the case, who do you think should investigate it? Now that so many government offices are involved, could it be that they have already cleaned up the mess before the court is dismissed?"

At this moment, all the officials began to kneel down, either because they knew they were wrong or because they did not dare to do so. In short, their attitude had to be extremely clear at this moment.

Zhu Yunhuan was not surprised by this. This was a result of the highly concentrated imperial power. As generations of dynasties continued to concentrate imperial power, there naturally became more and more rules for officials to attend court.

Bao Zhao did not hesitate, he knew he could not escape, "Your Majesty, I think that although the central government is involved, not all officials are involved in this matter."

These words resonated with all the civil and military officials in the court. No matter whether they had to seriously investigate the people around them in private, they needed to show that they had nothing to do with this case in the court.

Make sure you are okay. If you are really okay, that would be the best. Then you don't have to worry about being implicated.

If it has something to do with you, it is also an option to take the time to get it out of the way now, and then find a way to remedy the situation.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Bao Zhao and continued to ask, "Then where do you think we should start investigating this case?"

Bao Zhao answered without thinking, "Your Majesty, I think the three judicial departments should send officials to investigate this case thoroughly. I think this case is of great importance, and the deputy ministers of each department should go to Taicang."

All the civil and military officials in the court expressed their approval again. Their attitude had to be made clear. Moreover, this case was indeed too serious, which naturally meant that some heavyweight officials had to rush to Taicang to investigate the case in person.

The position of a minister is very high and powerful. Even if he encounters certain resistance in the local area, his status can basically block some pressure from officialdom.

"That's not enough!" Zhu Yunhuan said bluntly, "I don't even dare to trust some people now. In just a few months, such a large amount of corruption has occurred one after another. How do you want me to think about it?"

All the officials naturally knelt down again to apologize, and they all began to get nervous. This was one of the things they were most worried about now.

Although the emperor's words were very impolite, it would be strange if he did not think too much about the two corruption cases that occurred in a short period of time.

Moreover, whether it was the Red Warehouse or the sea trade, they were all matters that the emperor cared about extremely. But even so, there were still some daring people who would tamper with it. How bold was that!

Or to put it more directly, since these people are so bold, they must have something to rely on. They simply feel that someone is protecting them, or they think that everyone from top to bottom is like this and the administration is not clear!
Zhu Yunxun said directly, "Since this case was discovered by the Northern Pacification Office, the Northern Pacification Office will naturally send someone to investigate. The Jinyiwei cannot sit idle either, they must follow!"

The officials seemed to have no objections, but the emperor clearly expressed his distrust and demanded direct supervision of the officials investigating the case. At this point, even if they were unhappy, they had to endure it.

If you have reasons and evidence, you might be able to argue for it, but don't try to do something useless now, as that will only backfire and cause more dissatisfaction from the emperor.

Zhu Yunxun then continued to add, "Yao Guangxiao, the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, should also come with us to investigate what is going on!"

Many people became even more frightened at this moment. Everyone knew who Yao Guangxiao was. He was one of the emperor's confidants.

When he was in the court, he was an official, and after he left the court, he was a monk. Although he was eccentric, no one dared to deny his ability. Everyone knew that he was a close minister of the emperor, so Yao Guangxiao was directly arranged to supervise him.

Zhu Yunhuan then looked at the line of military officers and said with some dissatisfaction, "The court has treated you well, with fame, wealth, high positions and generous titles, and this is what you did?"

The civil officials did not dare to gloat over other people's misfortune, because although the Five Military Commanderies were involved this time, everyone should not potter around, as they were all birds of a feather.

It's nothing more than that it seems that the nobles are being criticized by His Majesty now. Perhaps in the future there will be a chance for His Majesty not to trust the nobles as always. Those people may be good at fighting, but they are far from being able to govern the country.

"Zhang Long, Marquis of Fengxiang, and Yin Qing, the son-in-law of the emperor, you two should also go to Taicang." Zhu Yunhuan pointed directly, "The three judicial departments will draw up a list of officials and hand it to my desk this afternoon."

Zhang Long inherited the title, but he was also the consort of Zhu's eighth daughter, Princess Fuqing. Yin Qing married Zhu's fourteenth daughter, Princess Hanshan, two years ago, and was born in a family of middle-low-ranking military officers. The civil and military officials did not seem to have any objection to this. The emperor now not only distrusted the civil officials, but also the nobles, and was also dissatisfied with the royal family and relatives.

Therefore, such a case naturally requires multiple forces to work together to investigate. Anyone who dares to tamper with this matter will naturally be prepared to face the emperor's wrath. There is no doubt about this.

Zhu Yunhuan then looked at Zhu Shangbing and others, "We should have asked the Imperial Clan Court to assist in this case, but I think it's better to forget it. The Imperial Clan Court, my uncle, and my brothers, are really good people."

Looking at the emperor walking away in anger, Zhu Shangbing and others felt even more ashamed. This court session was truly an absolute torture for them.

From the beginning to the end, he just followed all the officials in apologizing, and the emperor had no intention of questioning the royal family at all. It was obvious that he was very disappointed with the royal family's performance, so he directly withdrew from the court after ridiculing them.

This kind of treatment can be said to be unprecedented, but there is no way, because some members of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty can constantly cause trouble, so that Your Majesty now appears very disappointed and dissatisfied.

Naturally, there is nothing to complain about at this time. The royal family is in a situation where they are disappointed by the emperor. Isn't it all their own fault?
What's more, to think more optimistically, the emperor is indeed somewhat disappointed and dissatisfied with the royal family, but he has not yet shown any intention of severely punishing them.

If this is the case, it seems to mean that there is still room for things to turn around, and there seems to be no need to worry too much.

After retiring from court, Zhu Yunhuan returned directly to Wuying Palace and called the Duke of Liang and the Duke of Kaiguo.

Lan Yu and Chang Sheng knelt down as soon as they arrived at Wuying Hall. They were quite conscious and said, "The guilty ministers have come to accept their punishment."

Zhu Yunhuan sighed deeply, and then said, "Fortunately, you two did not covet the money this time, otherwise I really don't know how to deal with you."

Lan Yu and Chang Sheng felt that they would not be greedy for the money. Although gold, silver and treasures were naturally tempting, given their current status and so on, there was really no need to care about those treasures.

What's more, it is somewhat embarrassing. If they are really involved in these cases, it will naturally make it difficult for the emperor. After all, one is the emperor's great-uncle and the other is his uncle.

"You have many old subordinates in the army. I know these things, and I never think too much about them." Zhu Yunhuan said earnestly, "It is human nature to want old subordinates to make contributions, and generals should do the same."

After hearing what Zhu Yunhuan said, Lan Yu and Chang Sheng were naturally even more ashamed. In fact, they had never expected such a thing to happen, and they felt indescribable anger and frustration in their hearts.

As a general and a duke, the Chang lineage has a deep foundation in the military. Whether they are senior generals or middle and low-level officers, they have quite a few old subordinates.

Regardless of whether it was Lan Yu or Chang Sheng, they would naturally think about helping some of their old subordinates to seek opportunities to make meritorious contributions. Whether it was for promotion of title or promotion, as long as they had made a lot of meritorious contributions, it would naturally be easier to strive for it.

Especially when they heard that the first time they went out to sea, they fought pirates and wiped out some savages, these were naturally military achievements, which would make the generals very jealous.

Seeing that there were no large-scale wars in the Ming Dynasty for the time being, it was naturally difficult to make meritorious deeds. Some people were arranged to go out to sea with them, originally thinking that they would make meritorious deeds, but they were cheated all of a sudden.

Zhu Yunhuan sighed deeply and said, "My third uncle is still in charge of Taicang, and I don't trust anyone else. But it turns out that my third uncle hasn't noticed much about these things. What on earth is he doing?"

Lan Yu and Chang Sheng were also annoyed. The performance of their nephew (younger brother) was indeed disappointing, very disappointing.

Chang Sheng was self-aware, and he knew that his ability was limited, so he basically didn't care about anything. But he did one thing very well, which was that he was very diligent and would do his best to complete the tasks that the emperor ordered.

He also knew that Chang Sen was not very capable, and he had thought that Chang Sen would be diligent after he went to Taicang. Even if he couldn't do anything decent, he could at least do the job assigned by the emperor.

After all, even Lan Yu knew that the emperor would never assign particularly difficult tasks to the Chang brothers, for fear that they would not be capable enough to mess up the job and would not be able to report back.

The current situation is that although Chang Sen, who is in charge of Taicang, has not been involved in corruption, he is really a clay Buddha. He doesn't care about anything in Taicang, and those who have been cheated are at a loss!
What a mess this is. If people had been a little more diligent in doing some things, this situation wouldn't have happened.

Zhu Yunxun sighed and said, "It's also because I didn't know how to judge people, so I used so many people."

Lan Yu and Chang Sheng were naturally embarrassed. The emperor did not know how to judge people, and the two dukes were even more to blame. The person they recommended messed up the job and betrayed the emperor's trust. This was no small matter.

Zhu Yunxun said earnestly, "Look, this time, the Xu family and the Li family did nothing wrong, but it was our Chang family that made such a joke. What a joke!"

Lan Yu and Chang Sheng were extremely embarrassed. Chang Sen was not the only one in Taicang. There was Li Zengshou in the Duke of Wei's Mansion and Li Zengzhi in the Duke of Cao's Mansion. They did not make the same mistake as Chang Sen.

Zhu Yunhuan then said, "Keep your mouth shut. When Third Uncle is called back, don't mention this matter in front of Grandmother, lest she worry."

Lan Yu and Chang Sheng could only thank him repeatedly. In fact, they were also afraid that some things would get to Chang Lan's ears. If such a situation really happened, it would obviously be a bit bad.

As for the punishment of Chang Sen, it seems that there will be no punishment for the time being. It depends on how much is involved after the case is investigated.

If it was simply a dereliction of duty, he might be completely ignored and allowed to live a life of idleness. If he made a mistake, it would depend on the size of the mistake.

It is highly likely that Ma Su would not be executed with tears, and at that time, the golden book and iron certificate would have to be produced.

However, the lineage of Prince Kaiping already had an exiled Chang Mao, and if there was another Chang Sen, it would really be a huge joke.

Not only Lan Yu and Chang Sheng were praying, Zhu Yunhuan also hoped that Chang Sen would not make some mistakes in principle, otherwise it would be difficult for him to deal with him when the time comes.

As for the so-called bad teammates, that's not the point. It's just a matter of getting used to it. (End of this chapter)