Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 130 There is conscience, but not much

"Your Highness, Young Master Xu is inside."

The dim prison of the Ministry of Justice.

Waves of sour smell mixed with a foul odor rushed into his nose. Zhu Zhanjun frowned and, under the guidance of the jailer, led a few people into a row of cells.

"Oh my god, someone is finally here."

As soon as Zhu Zhanjun and his men entered, cheers broke out from inside.

"Second Prince, what did the Crown Prince say? How long will we be detained?"

"Second Prince, we have handed over everything. Even if we are wrong, it is not a big deal. Why don't you discuss it with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and beat us with a stick or a whip? We can't stay here for another day."

Zhu Zhanjun was walking in the passage, with hands stretched out from the fences on both sides, begging for mercy.

Zhu Zhanjun said helplessly to both parties: "If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place? Stay here for now. I estimate that you won't get any results in a month or two."

"Ah, there are only one or two months left. Oh my God, how can I survive?"

Suddenly a wailing sound was heard.

Zhu Zhanjun turned around and took a food box from Xiaohu's hand, and said to the other guards, "Give them some food."

"What to eat?"

The people who were still wailing heard that there was food and hurried over.

Hanzi carried a large food box and asked the guards to open the cell. He said to the people who gathered around him, "The second grandson of the emperor said that since you have given us so much money and taken care of our business, we will provide you with food until you are released from the cell. Someone will deliver it to you every day."

"Oh my God, that's great." Everyone cheered. They really couldn't eat the stale steamed buns and rice at noon. They had been hungry all day.

As the box was opened, neatly stacked lunch boxes were placed inside.

"Who wants this tomato scrambled egg rice? There's also stir-fried lamb rice underneath."

"Tomatoes are my favorite. Give them to me, give them to me..."

The crowd was noisy and everyone was holding a small lunch box. As they smelled the aroma of the food, they all shed tears.

Zhu Zhanjun carried a small lunch box and came to the only cell with a window.

The interior was fairly clean, with a small table and a single bamboo bed covered with a quilt, which must have been sent from home.

Xu Jingchang was lying on the master bed, his head resting on the quilt, his legs crossed, and twisting his body with a piece of weed in his mouth.

Hearing the door opening, he turned his head and laughed.

"I knew you would definitely come."

Zhu Zhanjun walked in with a lunch box and said with a smile, "What if I hadn't come?"

He got out of bed and walked a few steps to the small table. Xu Jingchang took the food box from Zhu Zhanjun's hand, took out a pot of wine from it, and started drinking it.

He drank half the pot in one breath, then wiped his mouth with satisfaction and said, "Then I'll just say I was wrong. You'll never amount to anything great."

Zhu Zhanjun chuckled, sat down opposite Xu Jingchang, and helped to arrange the dishes.

A plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a mouth-watering chicken, some smashed cucumbers, and a seaweed egg soup.

"Oh, that's good."

Looking at the delicious food, Xu Jingchang picked up the chopsticks and put it into his mouth.

Zhu Zhanjun helped the other party add a bowl of rice, put it in front of him and said with a smile: "When did you guess what I was thinking?"

Xu Jingchang's mouth was full. He waved his hands, ate a large bowl of rice, and took a sip of wine before he exhaled and said, "I didn't figure it out during the day, but when the servants went to report at night, I gradually came to my senses."

"If you want to kill us, there is no need to ask my aunt to go and ask her to accept the money."

Zhu Zhanjun's smile deepened. Seeing that the other party had finished the wine, he took out another pot and put it on the table.

"Then how can you be sure that I will tell grandma instead of waiting for grandpa to come back and tell him to kill you."

Xu Jingchang raised his hand and pointed at his head. "This is a brain, not a winter melon. Although I, your uncle, like to play a little, it doesn't mean that it is filled with manure. We Xu family members are still quite smart."

"Although your return is important, there is no need for my aunt to go directly there unless someone notifies her to go there."

"Let the queen of a country go there. If there is nothing important to do, who would be so idle and bored?"

"And what is the most important thing for the queen?"

Without waiting for Zhu Zhanjun to answer, Xu Jingchang said directly: "Her family and relatives."

"As for family, His Majesty is on the Northern Expedition, and you can't possibly know these things in Fengyang."

"If something happened to my second cousin, you would report directly to the palace instead of asking your grandmother to go there."

"Not to mention the others. The only reason your grandmother could go there in person was because of me, your in-law, and this matter is of great importance. In the palace, walls have ears, and you are afraid that this matter will be leaked."

"Clap clap clap!"

Zhu Zhanjun couldn't help but applaud, looking at Xu Jingchang and said, "Uncle, you have no problem being an official with your wisdom."

"Come on." Xu Jingchang sneered: "My aunt is the queen, my uncle is the emperor, my eldest cousin is the prince, and I am the duke of a country. I have reached the pinnacle of my life, and there is no way to go any higher."

"With my identity and status, I am not enjoying my life at home, but running off to be an official. How unrealistic of me to think so."

"Hahaha……"

Zhu Zhanjun burst into laughter at this remark.

In the past, he didn't have much of a good impression of his uncle, always feeling that he was somewhat arrogant.

But now it seems that they have the capital to be arrogant.

With this wealth and background, as long as he doesn't do anything rebellious or act arrogantly, he has already restrained himself.

Seeing that the other party had finished his meal, Zhu Zhanjun said with a serious expression: "When you explained to grandma today, why didn't you tell her about the corruption of embezzlement of dam materials?" Xu Jingchang, who was picking his teeth, was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion: "What dam materials?"

Zhu Zhanjun frowned slightly and said, "Don't you know that the collapse of the dam was partly due to cutting corners during construction?"

"That bastard Zhang An was also involved." Xu Jingchang stood up angrily.

Zhu Zhanjun looked at Xu Jingchang in confusion: "Don't you know about this?"

"I know shit."

"Although I like money, I never do anything against my conscience. The dam is related to the lives of the people in my hometown. How could I touch this money?"

"If my grandfather knew about this, he would beat me to death."

"I agree that we are exchanging disaster relief grain for coarse grains and heavy rice, but at least it won't kill people."

"I admit that we took some money in the middle. After all, if we don't reach out, others will. If we take it, others won't dare to take it."

"We acknowledged that we exchanged grain for land, but I definitely did not participate in cutting corners on the embankment."

Zhu Zhanjun looked straight at Xu Jingchang and named him directly, "They made a total profit of 100,000 taels from the dam construction and other things. According to Zhang An, most of the money was handed over to you in the name of land tax. Don't tell me that you haven't seen this money."

"This is pure nonsense. I have counted every account. According to the land register, there is no extra land. Most of it is real property. It was sold in several places before it was sold out."

"I have never received any cash..."

Xu Jingchang stopped talking, frowned for a long time, and slammed the table fiercely: "This bitch, she actually dared to take this immoral money behind my back."

Without waiting for Zhu Zhanjun to ask, Xu Jingchang answered directly: "In the past two years, my annoying daughter-in-law has suddenly become wealthy. Her family has built a mansion. When I went there last year, I curiously asked them when they got rich. They told me that they did some business and made some money."

"I didn't think much about it at the time, but now it seems that Zhang An and that slave girl used my name to embezzle the money from the dam construction and sent it to my mother's family."

"This bitch is trying to kill me. I'm going to stab her when I get back."

After staying in the cell until midnight, Zhu Zhanjun took his men away.

Sitting in the carriage back to the East Palace, Zhu Zhanjun narrowed his eyes slightly, recalled the scenes just now, and breathed a sigh of relief.

When he came back, he was thinking about how to deal with these Fengyang nobles.

Forcing them to death directly is obviously not a wise choice.

The civil service group did not support him in the first place. If Zhu Zhanjun offended all the powerful and influential people, his life would be difficult in the future.

Zhu Zhanjun needed to have his own voice in the court and a group of people who would stand up and support him when necessary.

Zhu Zhanjun and Zhu Biao discussed for a long time and finally decided to contact these Fengyang dignitaries to see if they could win them over.

After returning, he neither accepted nor rejected the bribes from this gang, and explained everything to the other party's representative Xu Jingchang during his conversation.

What Zhu Zhanjun wanted to talk about was not the money and land in Fengyang, but the friendship of the entire Fengyang powerful group.

Xu Jingchang didn't react at the time, so Zhu Zhanjun asked someone to invite Empress Xu over to give some advice to his uncle.

Fortunately, this guy was smart enough. He analyzed something from Zhu Zhanjun's attitude towards the gifts and his visit to the imperial farm with Empress Xu.

Zhu Zhanjun's original idea was to let the other party go to Empress Xu to test the waters first, or to sincerely admit his mistakes to Empress Xu, and then Zhu Zhanjun would do him a favor and the two sides would establish a certain friendship.

But what Zhu Zhanjun didn't expect was that Xu Jingchang's brain cells were so developed that he organized a collective apology.

Although this move was somewhat unexpected, it was also under control.

Fengyang is now Zhu Zhanjun's territory. The old man will definitely consult Zhu Zhanjun's opinion when dealing with this matter in the future.

At that time, Zhu Zhanjun will pull Zhang An and others out as scapegoats and make them bear all the blame.

As for the nobles of Fengyang, a small punishment will be imposed to put the matter behind them.

Zhu Zhanjun helped them to cover up such a huge crime. As long as the powerful people in Fengyang are not stupid, they will understand the meaning of it.

After all, without Zhu Zhanjun's intervention, they would have committed such a serious mistake, and stripping of their titles and exile would have been the lightest punishment.

I don’t know whether these guys figured it out themselves or someone pointed it out to them.

When Zhu Zhanjun brought people to deliver food just now, these guys were very enthusiastic, and greeted Zhu Zhanjun as if nothing had happened.

From this we can see that the first step of making friends has been completed, and the next step is to tie these powerful people to one's own chariot with interests.

Zhu Zhanjun was originally somewhat dissatisfied with their handling of the embankment and was waiting for a chance to settle the accounts in the future.

But after hearing what Xu Jingchang said just now, Zhu Zhanjun judged that the other party was not lying.

From this we can see that Zhang An could not bear the punishment and was making false accusations, or was trying to shirk his own guilt.

As for embezzling disaster relief funds and grain, and then using the grain to exchange for the people's land.

It’s really hard to evaluate Zhu Zhanjun.

You may say they were greedy, but they only took a part of it, and the bulk of it went to the people.

If it were those black-hearted officials, the people would probably not even get half of it.

Moreover, judging from the disaster relief situation, those on the list were given real grain, while those not on the list could only eat plain rice porridge.

It sounds cruel, but the people who drank thin porridge did survive and there was no large-scale starvation.

For this reason, Zhu Zhanjun himself didn’t know how to judge these things.

Although these people are heartless, they still have conscience and would not touch important defenses such as dams.

Let's say they have a conscience. These guys dared to withhold disaster relief grain, use good grain to exchange bad grain for the people, and take the opportunity to exchange the withheld grain for the land in the hands of the people.

Zhu Zhanjun finally concluded: These are a group of people with conscience, but not many of them.

(End of this chapter)