Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Calling Bao Zhao to Wuying Palace, Zhu Yunhuan asked directly, "How is the investigation of this case going?"

Bao Zhao immediately replied, "Your Majesty, the clues we have found so far are that merchants colluded with officials to deceive and pass off inferior goods as good ones. We have not found any important officials involved."

Zhu Yunhuan couldn't help but laugh, "So, such a big case can be handled by officials of the fifth or sixth rank? Do you believe what you said?"

Bao Zhao also felt that it would be hard to believe what he said, because some middle and low-level officials wanted to get things done thoroughly and manage everything, which was not very realistic.

Bao Zhao gritted his teeth and said, "With the palace manager here, some officials didn't dare to say much, so they made mistakes when checking the goods."

Zhu Yunhuan's face suddenly turned ugly. This was naturally one of the more reasonable explanations, because some officials were not necessarily greedy for money, but they were afraid of things, or they were too enterprising.

The princes of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have no real power, but everyone knew that the emperor and the current emperor were very good to the royal family. Moreover, if a prince wanted to cause trouble for a minor official, he had plenty of means.

Zhu Yunxun asked directly, "Whose family is it from?"

"Qin Wangfu." Bao Zhao told the truth, but he was also trying to make amends, "But now we know from interrogation that this person is the son of the chief historian of Qin Wangfu."

Zhu Yunhuan was so angry that he laughed. "The palace chief secretary didn't show up, but his own son did. Is this the only ability a fifth-rank chief secretary has?"

Although he felt that this situation was somewhat unimaginable, Bao Zhao still said, "Your Majesty, what we have found out now is that the son of the Right Chief Clerk of the Prince of Qin's Palace colluded with others and bribed people."

"Where is he now?" Zhu Yunhuan asked directly, "Let the Jinyiwei go to the Qin Palace immediately and bring back the Right Chief Secretary."

Bao Zhao replied, "It is still in Taicang, and officials from the three judicial departments are investigating the case together."

Zhu Yunhuan nodded slightly, and then said, "A chief official of the Qin Palace doesn't have such great ability. Tell me, who else is there!"

Bao Zhao spoke cautiously, "The prince of Yingguo was only in charge of military affairs, and the right governor Chang Sen neglected to check, so he was deceived."

"Blinded?" Zhu Yunhuan was immediately annoyed. "Were they deceived? I'm afraid one of them only wanted to fight and gain merit, while the other was content to enjoy himself and didn't care about anything else, right?"

Bao Zhao didn't know what to say. Judging from the clues currently available, it was indeed Fu Zhong, the supervising imperial son-in-law, who was busy preparing for war and did not care about other matters.

Chang Sen was a little confused by the flattery and coaxing he received. He had no intention of dealing with any matters and only thought about eating, drinking and having fun.

You have to know that Taicang and Yangzhou are very close. Even though Yangzhou is not as prosperous as it was in the Tang and Song dynasties, it is still crowded with merchants from all over the world. If these people want to win over and corrupt some people, there are too many ways to do it.

Zhu Yunhuan was originally quite confident about Fu Zhong and Chang Sen. One was honest and dutiful, and the other was his own man, so there was no problem in using them.

But now, one of them has no idea what the focus of the work is, and the other one does not take the matter seriously at all.

Thinking about these things, it is inevitable that people will become even more annoyed. These are the people he personally selected, but he ended up choosing these two people.

Failing to judge people is the best response to Zhu Yunhuan's use of people.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Zhang Fusheng and said, "Call them back, the sooner the better!"

Bao Zhao tried to make amends by saying, "Your Majesty, it has not yet been found that they are involved in these matters."

"Hasn't this happened yet?" Zhu Yunxun said angrily, "They were supposed to be the ones keeping an eye on these things, but what did they do? If either of them was smarter, this wouldn't have happened!"

Bao Zhao thought the same in his heart. He also felt that no matter whether it was Chang Sen or Fu Zhong, if one of them was a little more sober, they would not be deceived. But the result was basically like this.

The emperor's uncle turned a blind eye to some things, and the Prince of Ying was busy with other things, which naturally gave many people opportunities to take advantage of it.

Some people may even exaggerate the situation to make people who don't know the truth think that these two top dignitaries are involved in certain things.

I am really annoyed, but now is not the time to be annoyed.

Zhu Yunhuan continued to ask, "Some people in the army are involved, maybe it's because of these things?"

Bao Zhao quickly replied, "Your Majesty, it is true. However, according to our investigation, the Prince of Ying and the Right Commander were not involved."

"I have my own ideas about these matters. You just need to find out the facts of the case. I don't need you to help them get away with it!" Zhu Yunhuan said very unhappily, "Why, you don't dare to investigate further when it involves them?"

Bao Zhao quickly assured, "Your Majesty, we will investigate this case thoroughly and there will not be any mistakes."

This was also Bao Zhao's truth. Although everyone understood that Chang Sen and Fu Zhong were responsible for these things, the current clues showed that no one had received their instructions or was involved, which was good news.

Negligence and dereliction of duty are not serious crimes, so it is reasonable to punish them when the time comes. The only thing is that they may not gain the trust of Your Majesty again.

This is already considered good news, as he is the prince of Ying and the emperor's uncle.

Zhu Yunhuan waved his hand in a somewhat distracted manner, "Alright, continue to investigate the case, and get to the bottom of it as soon as possible without leaving anything out."

Bao Zhaoru felt like he had been pardoned. He was sweating profusely when he left Wuying Palace. This was because the case was too sensitive and he felt a little pressured to get to the bottom of it.

It is very obvious that the person who is now investigating this case has obviously offended the Duke of Kaiguo and the Duke of Ying.

Although he was extremely reluctant to get involved in these troubles, as the Minister of Justice, he had no say over these matters, especially knowing the emperor's character, so there were some things he could only tell the truth.

Yu Xin gave Bao Zhao a sympathetic look. Everyone was clear about some things, and whoever stood up first would definitely be scolded.

Bao Zhaoze felt that Yu Xin would not have an easy time either. With these things happening, it was not possible for Chang Sen and Fu Zhong to shoulder all the responsibility alone. At most, they only had a significant amount of responsibility.

After seeing Yu Xin, Zhu Yunhuan asked directly, "Now that there are so many defective goods, the big ship is about to go out to sea, is it too late now?" Yu Xin said quickly, "Your Majesty, I have been busy coordinating and purchasing some goods nearby. Although it may not be enough, I think it can fill the gap."

This is also based on experience. This is based on the feedback from the fleet's first voyage, so we know which goods are easy to sell and what is needed. We also found some people from maritime merchant families and asked them carefully about the routes, etc.

The Ming Dynasty did have a maritime ban before, but maritime trade was always prosperous during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and many maritime merchants made their fortunes by relying on maritime trade.

Zhu Yunhuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's not bad. It won't really delay the delivery. Go and urge them again. If the goods can be replenished, then we will. If not, forget it."

We must not miss the ocean currents and monsoons. There is nothing we can do if there is a shortage of some goods. Moreover, it is very difficult to guarantee that all the goods we bring out will be popular.

The most important thing is that although there are some defective products, the number of them does not account for too many in the total goods, currently it is about 10%.

This was enough to make Zhu Yunhuan and others nervous. If they continued to make trouble like this, it would not be just one-tenth of the profit in the future. The benefits these parasites gained from this were not just a small number like 10,000 or 20,000 taels.

These things must start now. If problems arise at the initial stage, it will be obviously more difficult to correct them later.

Zhu Yunhuan was finally a little relieved. As long as the fleet was not delayed in setting sail, it would be fine. Although there were some minor setbacks, they were corrected in time.

Yu Xin said carefully, "Your Majesty, I think we can purchase more Jiangnan silk and other items nearby this time."

Zhu Yunhuan nodded, and then asked, "If we really want to do these things, we still have to ask the Ministry of Revenue. We have to wait until next year to get the money back after we take it out. Is that enough?"

It is no wonder that Zhu Yunhuan asked this question, mainly because sailing a large fleet to sea requires a huge investment in itself, otherwise Zheng He's seven voyages to the West would not have been criticized in history.

Other fleets made a lot of money by going out to sea to do business, but the fleet led by the eunuch Sanbao was basically based on politics and was more generous than generous, which seriously consumed the treasury reserves and caused a large-scale depreciation of the currency.

But Zhu Yunhuan was different. Although he was also trying to establish a comprehensive Huayi political system in Southeast Asia, he also demonstrated the political and military advantages of the Ming Empire.

He would not oppose the establishment of the tribute system, but he would definitely not exchange the Ming Dynasty's gold, silver and jewelry for other people's worthless things.

More importantly, what the Ming Dynasty took out were goods, and what it exchanged for were gold, silver, copper bars, etc., rather than using copper coins to buy things from foreign countries as in history.

Yu Xin naturally understood Zhu Yunhuan's concerns, and said confidently, "Your Majesty, I think if there are no major changes, the national treasury can support it."

Xia Yuanji suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the royal family princes who participated in this will definitely be punished."

The retired emperor has already ordered several princes involved in the incident to give an explanation, so there will be additional punishments later. There is nothing strange about this and it is completely understandable.

Zhu Yunhuan nodded and said, "That's true. The royal family and the princes who provided the royal family with food and clothing should be punished. This matter cannot be resolved by just giving them a warning once."

Just scolding them is not enough. If he really just scolded them, Zhu Yunhuan could guarantee that his uncles would dare to make similar mistakes again, and they would slowly lose some sense of awe in their hearts.

After all, it seems that as long as it is not treason, no matter whether it is a big mistake or a small mistake, it will only be reprimanded, which has no practical impact at all.

Even though Zhu Chong, Zhu Su, and Zhu Shouqian returned to their hometown in Fengyang to farm, the throne was still reserved for them. After reflecting on themselves, they could still return to their fiefdoms, which naturally made people more fearless.

Xia Yuanji continued to add, "During the evaluation of the royal family before, some princes' palaces did not have enough supplies, but the royal family of our Ming Dynasty is still rich."

There is nothing wrong with this statement. The royal family members are evaluated, and their salaries may be slightly reduced for minor mistakes, but these royal family princes can still live a very comfortable life. This is a fact that is obvious to all.

Zhu Yunhuan nodded repeatedly and said, "That's true. Although some members of the royal family only made minor mistakes and didn't commit major offenses, it's hard to tell what's going on."

Xia Yuanji quickly added, "Your Majesty, if the King of Qin and others are too deeply involved, I think the funds we receive can only cover the daily expenses of the palace."

"Then my second uncle will have a good life!" Zhu Yunhuan said jokingly, "He is used to grand construction projects and fine food. If he is only provided with food and clothing, he will definitely make a fuss."

Xia Yuanji said firmly, "The court has its own laws, and the royal family should follow them. If we let the King of Qin off easily, it will be bad for the future."

Yu Xin's heart was in his throat, and he quickly winked at Xia Yuanji, because if these words were to reach the ears of the retired emperor, he would surely be charged with stirring up trouble among the royal family.

Moreover, judging from the current emperor's past performance, although he is not as lenient towards the royal family as the emperor emeritus, his attitude towards them is generally moderate.

Zhu Yunhuan did not comment, "I know about this matter, remember not to mention it again."

Not only Xia Yuanji breathed a sigh of relief, but Yu Xin also breathed a sigh of relief. His Majesty obviously did not blame him for this proposal.

Zhu Yunhuan was also very clear that he would supervise the clan members when they should be supervised and punish them when they should be punished. He would not blindly favor the clan members, nor would he completely restrict them.

It is not so easy to grasp the right balance. This is not to say that Lao Zhu is here or not, but the royal family itself is an extremely powerful interest group, and these things have to be considered.

Let's get to the bottom of the fleet issue first. The truth of this case will soon come to light, and we'll soon know how many people are involved.

As for how to deal with it, Zhu Yunhuan naturally knew it clearly and there was no need to rush.

The Minister of Rites Chen Di came to the Wuying Palace. This time, his report was not about corruption in the fleet, but about the situation of the accompanying envoys on this voyage.

As for diplomacy, Zhu Yunhuan is quite curious and enthusiastic about Southeast Asia, and now he needs to establish more diplomatic contacts. After all, it is very lively there now, and it seems that there are wars in many places.

Since this is the case, it is naturally necessary for the Ming Dynasty to know some of the surrounding situations, which may be beneficial for future development.

After listening to the report carefully and asking about some details, Zhu Yunhuan felt relieved. Fortunately, the Ministry of Rites did not have any major problems! (End of this chapter)