I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 72 Zhu Yijun's Rebuttal
Zhu Yijun stood up, walked to the center of the hall, and said to Emperor Jiajing, "Grandpa Emperor, I have known about this for a long time. I had planned to report it to you later as an important part of the imperial edict for the Emperor's birthday. I didn't expect it to be dug up by someone, and turned it upside down, confusing right and wrong."

"Your Highness is confusing right and wrong. Do you have any evidence?" Gao Gong argued.

Zhu Yijun turned around, stared at Gao Gong, and said word by word: "I am the prince, the king, and you are the minister! You listen to me when I speak, and you only speak when I tell you to!"

Zhu Yijun's words were like sharp arrows, each piercing Gao Gong's heart, making him feel cold in his heart and chill on his back.

At that moment, he seemed to see the cold and ruthless eyes of Emperor Jiajing that could kill him.

Xu Jie, Yan Ne, Li Chunfang and everyone else were frightened by Zhu Yijun's words.

The first time they saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he arrogantly declared his authority as the monarch.

The corners of Emperor Jiajing's mouth curled up, his smile became more intense, but he remained calm.

Zhu Yijun turned around and faced Emperor Jiajing, and continued, "On the tenth day of April, at Zhoushan Island east of Ningbo, Zhejiang Navy Admiral Lu Tong led the Dinghai Battalion to patrol the sea as usual and rested temporarily at Zhoushan Port.

At that time, he received a report from a merchant ship saying that two merchant ships holding maritime licenses were robbed by a group of pirates led by Xie Dabo and Chi Sanjin in the sea 200 miles to the east. All the goods were looted and hundreds of people were killed or injured.

Since the Japanese invasion in the southeast was eliminated, such a serious tragedy has not occurred in the seas of the Ming Dynasty. Lu Tan immediately led the Dinghai Camp to set sail northward, vowing to hunt down the pirates, recover the goods, avenge the victims, fulfill the navy's duties, and live up to the emperor's expectations.

After chasing for nearly ten days, they finally saw the pirates, but the sea was so vast that they unknowingly chased them to Hirado Port in Eastern Japan. The pirates fled into Hirado Port and hid.

Lu Tong sent people to negotiate with the lord of Hirado Port, asking them to hand over the pirates who were harming the people of the Ming Dynasty.

The lord of Hirado Domain was arrogant and ignorant, and even barked like a dog in front of my Celestial Empire's army, saying that he would not hand over the pirates and was bent on protecting them.

Admiral Lu did not tolerate them and immediately ordered to open fire. After several rounds of bombardment, Hirado Port suffered heavy losses. Under pressure, the Hirado Domain tied up nearly a thousand pirates and handed them over to Admiral Lu.

Admiral Lu took these pirates back to Ningbo and handed them over to the local authorities. After a trial, the main culprits Xie Da Nao Tou, Chi Sanjin and 167 others were sentenced to death, as well as 279 pirates who had committed murder. The rest were either exiled or sentenced to forced labor.

This case has been reported to the Ministry of Justice. Grandpa Emperor can ask someone to go to the Ministry of Justice to check the files and we will know the answer immediately."

Gao Gong took half a step forward and was about to open his mouth to argue.

Zhu Yijun seemed to have eyes on his back. He turned around suddenly and stared at him with eyes as sharp as swords.

Emperor Jiajing's eyes suddenly fell on his face.

The grandfather and grandson looked at Gao Gong in tacit understanding, which made his heart skip a beat and he swallowed all the words in his heart.

"Jun'er, what do you think about this?"

Zhu Yijun fell to his knees, bowed deeply, and said in a loud voice: "Grandson congratulates Grandpa Huang!"

Emperor Jiajing asked slowly, "Congratulations to me? What do you mean, Jun'er?"

"Grandfather, the Emperor Taizu, with the pretext of expelling the Tartars and restoring China, received the mandate of heaven and took over the world. The remnants of the Northern Yuan fled to the north and south of the desert, but they refused to give up and repeatedly invaded our borders, killing our soldiers and civilians.

Emperor Chengzu followed Taizu's will, punished the criminals and comforted the people. He sent a large army to cross the Yinshan Mountains five times and plow the enemy's court three times. He stabilized the northern border in one fell swoop and avenged the hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Therefore, the whole world is greatly relieved and the people are at peace.”

Zhu Yijun's passionate voice echoed in the hall.

The more Gao Gong listened, the more frightened he became.

He somewhat understood Zhu Yijun's reasoning for defending Lu Tan, and felt somewhat regretful.

It’s still the prince who understands the emperor’s thoughts.

I still underestimated His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

When they were discussing how to impeach Lu Tong and target Hu Zongxian, Zhang Siwei and others suggested that they should be wary of the Crown Prince, as something unexpected might happen with him around.

After discussing with Zhang Siwei, Chen Xixue and others, he decided to launch an attack at a small court meeting like today to catch the prince off guard.

As long as the emperor gets angry in front of everyone and speaks out, he will not change his mind easily because he cares about his reputation.

The matter of severely punishing Lu Tong can be decided, and then a way can be found to preside over the investigation and trial of Lu Tong, so as to take the initiative and direct the spearhead to Hu Zongxian, and then achieve the effect of removing the skin and bones. But today, as soon as I opened my mouth, I was blocked in the air by the prince, unable to go up or down. Now, judging from the development of the situation, it seems to be unfavorable to me.

Is the prince so powerful?

Such a great influence on the emperor?

Gao Gong couldn't help but glance at Xu Jie, who looked calm and composed.

At the beginning, Zhang Siwei secretly colluded with certain people from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Party in the name of the Shanxi Party, intending to join hands to deal with Hu Zongxian's party and get what they wanted.

After some negotiation, Zhang Siwei came back and told me that several core members of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Party were interested and just said they would go back to discuss it. However, nothing happened after the discussion. It was said that Xu Jie suppressed them.

At that time, he and Zhang Siwei, Chen Xixue and others thought that Xu Jie was becoming more timid as he got older, and they never imagined that he was truly a shrewd and scheming man.

No!

Gao Gong encouraged himself in his heart!
Hu Zongxian is the remnant of the Yan Party. Not only did he bring disaster to the southeast, but now he is going to bring disaster to the nine borders. Moreover, he still uses the Yan Party's methods, only caring about interests but not about morality. If this continues, the etiquette and laws will collapse and the national laws will be corrupted.

Today is the first day of the sword being directed at the remnants of the Yan Party. We must not be discouraged and must uphold justice and righteousness!

Zhu Yijun's voice continued.

"The Japanese pirates had been plaguing the southeast of the Ming Dynasty for twenty years. The Emperor worked hard and employed Hu Zongxian, Tan Lun, Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, Lu Tong and others to finally eliminate the Japanese pirates and bring peace to the people.

However, in the past 20 years, hundreds of thousands of innocent souls in the southeast who died at the hands of Japanese pirates have been waiting for redress. God has a good eye and led Lu Tong's navy across the vast ocean directly to Hirado Port.

Hirado Port, where 70% of the Japanese pirates in the southeast came from. The Matsuura Party entrenched there was the main force of the Japanese pirates in the southeast. To be frank, Hirado Port was the Japanese pirates' nest!

General Lu ordered the bombardment of Hirado Port, which severely damaged the Matsuura Party. My grandson felt that it was very gratifying. The emperor should have made this matter known to the world.

The Japanese pirates were killing our people, and the emperor punished them and comforted the people. He sent the navy to bombard the Japanese pirates' lair, severely damaging the source of the Japanese pirates. This heroic act should comfort the soldiers and civilians in the southeast and bring peace to the people of the world.

In the past, Yongle plundered the court, and now Jiajing has destroyed the nest. Grandpa Huang will definitely be like Emperor Chengzu, leaving a good name in history for his virtue and peace of mind! "

Gao Gong's whole body was trembling slightly, and he didn't know whether he was angry or scared.

Only today did he fully understand the prince's mind and methods.

In their eyes, Lu Tong's bombardment of Hirado Port was an act of provoking border conflicts and raising troops recklessly.

But after the prince said this, it became a matter of following the emperor's order to punish the criminals and avenge the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the southeast.

The Japanese pirates wreaked havoc in the southeast, causing great suffering to the local people. How many people’s relatives died at the hands of the pirates?
If the emperor spread the news to the world that the Ming navy bombarded the Japanese pirates' lair and dealt a heavy blow to their roots, all parts of the southeast would cheer and shout "Long live the emperor".

This is politically correct and the mainstream public opinion.

The emperor had been criticized for not paying attention to the Japanese invasion in the previous 20 years, but later he had to pay attention to it and appointed people like Hu Zongxian to eliminate the Japanese invasion.

Now Lu Tong's sudden attack on the enemy's lair is equivalent to helping the emperor clean up his past reputation. Why not do it!

As a result, the Jin Party's busy work behind the scenes, instigating and instigating Chen Yijing's impeachment, became a huge joke.

After leaving Wanshou Palace, Xu Jie returned to the cabinet duty room. After a while, the Minister of Personnel Yang Bo came running over.

When Yang Bo met them, he asked, "Shao Hu Gong, did something big happen in Wanshou Palace today?"

"Mr. Yu Po, you are well-informed."

"As soon as you entered the West Garden, I don't know how many ears were pricked outside. As soon as you came out, you all showed your magical powers and asked around for news. There is no wall that is impenetrable, and news spreads quickly."

Xu Jie glanced at Yang Bo and reminded him, "This time Gao Gong and the Jin Party have angered the Crown Prince. He is in trouble, and the Jin Party is also in trouble. Lord Yu Po, you should quickly protect the fellow villagers you are familiar with."

Yang Bo was shocked. "Mr. Shaohu, what do you mean by that?"

Xu Jie did not answer directly, but said quietly: "I still don't understand whether the prince is luring the snake out of the hole or waiting for the rabbit. Anyway, this time, Lao Gao and those Jin party members who sucked the blood of the nine borders are in trouble."

(End of this chapter)