Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 233 Power and people’s hearts, the most brilliant strategy!
Zhu Yunhuan looked at him, pondered for a moment, and said, "You all should leave."

The three judges were all shocked. Yuan Tai hurriedly said, "Your Highness, you must not do this. How do you know if Qi Tai has evil intentions and wants to do something bad to Your Highness after we leave? We must be on guard against this."

Qi Tai said in a stern voice: "If Your Highness is worried, you can have someone tie me up first so that I can't move. This way, I will not be able to harm Your Highness."

Yuan Tai turned around and glared at him fiercely.

Zhu Yunhuan waved his hand, and the guards came forward and tied him up tightly.

"Everyone, leave." Zhu Yunhuan waved his hand.

Yuan Tai, Yang Jing, Zhou Zhiqing and the other three had no choice but to bow and leave.

When there was no one around, Zhu Yunxun asked, "What secrets do you want to tell me?"

Qi Tai stared at him and took a deep breath: "Since the beginning of this spring, Fang Xiaoru has been teaching New Confucianism at the White Deer Academy, talking about the way of the sage and the great public good of the world."

"I have always known his philosophy. Fang Xiaoru wanted to restore the well-field system so that all the land in the world would be returned to the public and there would be no more harm from land annexation."

"But I also know that this is nothing but a pipe dream, an unrealistic ambition of a scholar, and it is absolutely impossible to implement."

"Now he has turned to talking about the way of sages and the distinction between taxes and levies. Although these contents are consistent with Fang Xiaoru's previous ideas, they are also very different."

"I personally think that without the guidance of an expert, Fang Xiaoru would never have such a change."

"I want to ask, is this master the Crown Prince?"

Zhu Yunhuan's eyes suddenly shrank.

Yang Shiqi could see it, so he was not surprised.

But I didn't expect that Qi Tai could also see it.

This person's ability is far superior to Huang Zicheng's.

Looking back, in history, Qi Tai insisted on starting with Prince of Yan Zhu Di to reduce the power of the vassal states, rather than reducing the power of the smaller ones first and then moving on to Prince of Yan Zhu Di, thus alerting the enemy and giving Zhu Di ample time to prepare.

Later, when Zhu Yunwen wanted to employ the God of War Li Jinglong, Qi Tai also strongly opposed it.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yunwen did not adopt his suggestions on these two critical events.

But from this we can see that Qi Tai still has some skills, at least much better than Huang Zicheng.

He had a close relationship with Fang Xiaoru and understood Fang Xiaoru's ideas and personality, so he was able to guess it.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Yunhuan nodded slightly and said, "Not bad."

There's no point in telling him. Qi Tai has already pleaded guilty, so it's impossible for him to tell anyone else.

"It is as expected!" Qi Tai showed a look of relief, and a sense of liberation. He dragged his tied body and bowed deeply.

"Your Highness has such an ambition, which is a blessing for the country, the people and the world."

Zhu Yunhuan was slightly stunned.

I didn't expect Qi Tai to react like this.

Qi Tai stood up again: "In the past, everything that His Royal Highness did was to fight for power and profit. Although he often had some brilliant ideas, I thought they were of no benefit to the people of the world. I had a deep misunderstanding of His Royal Highness."

"Since His Royal Highness returned triumphantly from Japan and governed the country, all people in the world have been blessed by His Royal Highness."

"Now, the treasury is full and the people can have enough food and clothing."

"Our Great Ming has truly reached an unprecedented era of prosperity."

"Today, I have completely understood how His Royal Highness intends to govern the world."

"All previous misunderstandings have vanished."

He paused and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince asked Fang Xiaoru to give lectures, starting from the Confucian classics, and leading from the common people to the imperial court. This is indeed a brilliant move."

"I think His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is raising the Huang Zicheng case at this time and arresting traitors and Huang Zicheng's accomplices with great fanfare. I'm afraid his real intention is not to go to the bar."

"If His Royal Highness really intends to start a big prison, I, Qi Tai, have a close relationship with Huang Zicheng, which is known to everyone in the government and the public. Just based on this, I should have been arrested and brought to justice long ago. How could I be allowed to be at large?"

"Use the Huang Zicheng case to divert the attention of the government and the public, giving Fang Xiaoru's new Confucianism more time to spread."

"Your Highness will also have more time to plan calmly, identify who supports his ideas and who opposes them, and then slowly promote the supporters."

"Once the layout is complete, at least we will not be alone and will be able to withstand the overwhelming opposition from both the government and the opposition parties."

"High!"

Qi Tai exclaimed in praise, but suddenly changed the subject and said, "But Your Highness, have you ever thought about this? People's hearts are unpredictable, and under heavy pressure, they may fall apart."

Zhu Yunhuan frowned slightly: "What do you mean?"

Qi Tai said in a clear voice: "Your Majesty has launched several major cases, killing many people and causing rivers of blood."

"But your majesty always does this with the force of thunder and lightning."

"When everyone is frightened out of their wits, your majesty will announce that the case is over, and there will be no more investigations and no more killings, in order to calm people's hearts."

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned.

That's exactly right.

This has always been Mr. Zhu’s style of handling cases.

In fact, from the perspective of punishing corruption, the case should be handled more slowly and investigated in a more detailed and in-depth manner.

Instead of investigating, closing and killing people at an extremely fast speed.

Doing so will certainly scare corrupt officials.

But on the surface, many people were killed, but in reality, the criminals were not dug out because the time was too short and there was no time to investigate in depth.

It's just a deterrent through severe punishment.

The reason for doing this was that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to scare the ministers in the court, but also to make them feel at ease.

This is a very contradictory goal.

Therefore, a unique style of handling cases has been formed.

"If the Huang Zicheng case is delayed for a long time, everyone in the world will be in danger and may suffer another incident."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince does not want to start a large-scale prison and kill too many people, but others may not think so."

Qi Tai said: "At present, His Royal Highness is in power and the new army is invincible. No one will openly oppose His Royal Highness. But it is easy to dodge an open attack, but it is difficult to guard against an arrow from the dark."

"I'm sure you haven't forgotten the assassination attempt on His Royal Highness the Crown Prince a year ago."

"This court has always been a place of swords and conspiracies. It is definitely not a peaceful place."

"It is easy to defeat external enemies, but difficult to prevent internal thieves."

"No matter how powerful His Royal Highness is, he is still just a body of flesh and blood, not a body of a god."

"The sword of the Huang Zicheng case cannot remain hanging high forever."

"Your Highness wants to intimidate the court officials, but the criminal has other ways."

Zhu Yunhuan narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at him with a gaze like a knife.

Qi Tai took a deep breath and said, "I have committed a crime for which I deserve death. The mistake has been made and regretting it is useless. I hope that before I die, I can use my useful body to do something for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and for the people of the world."

"Before I came to see His Royal Highness, I had already written a confession."

"Your Highness, please take it from me."

Zhu Yunhuan frowned and walked forward.

Sure enough, a thick stack of confession letters was taken out from Qi Tai's clothes on his chest.

After a quick glance, his expression changed drastically.

"Your Highness wants to use the Huang Zicheng case to intimidate the court officials, and this is the only thing I can do."

"There are more than 400 confessions here, and every two of them point to a powerful minister in the court." Qi Tai bowed again.

Zhu Yunhuan stared at him and asked, "Besides yours, why is there Huang Zicheng's confession?"

Of the four hundred confessions, two hundred were from Qi Tai and the other two hundred were from Huang Zicheng.

The two hundred people accused implicated almost all the important officials in the court.

"If I am the only one making the accusation, how can I convince others?"

"These confessions are mine and Huang Zicheng's, so they can be compared and verified with each other."

"The contents written above were all carefully fabricated by the two of us, and they can definitely stand up to scrutiny."

"If His Royal Highness still feels it is not enough, you can ask Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to write another one."

"That Japanese general has no backbone at all. He will write whatever His Royal Highness asks him to write."

"According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, a person can only be convicted if three or more people clearly testify to the crime."

"Three people's confession is enough to punish him."

"Your Highness can also hide them and never let anyone see them."

"After Huang Zicheng and I died, no one in the world except His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knew about the existence of these 'evidences'."

"If His Royal Highness wants to punish someone in the future, just bring out the confessions written by the two of us. This will be the 'ironclad evidence'."

Zhu Yunhuan frowned slightly.

Qi Tai smiled faintly and said, "Your Highness is just curious, why can I take out what Huang Zicheng wrote when he is clearly imprisoned?"

He sighed and said, "This is why I said that the Huang Zicheng case cannot be delayed any further."

"Huang Zicheng is in prison under tight guard. But no matter how tight the guard is, there will always be someone to watch over him."

“As long as there are people, there will be loopholes.”

"Everyone is scared, everyone is in a state of panic, and everyone will try every possible way to make Huang Zicheng shut up."

"Everyone came together to find a solution."

"I am a close friend of Huang Zicheng in both the government and the opposition, so they asked me to come in and act as a lobbyist to stabilize Huang Zicheng."

"To be honest, His Royal Highness has imprisoned Huang Zicheng for such a long time, and it is already a miracle that Huang Zicheng has not died of illness or committed suicide."

"This is enough to show how much respect the officials in the court have for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"If not for this, even if Huang Zicheng was imprisoned by His Majesty's decree, if he had not been convicted after such a long time, then Huang Zicheng would probably be a corpse by now."

Zhu Yunhuan suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

He always thought that he had firmly grasped power and that no one could shake his position.

But the control of power seemed different from what he had originally imagined.

Doesn’t Lao Zhu have power?
Then why did Hu Weiyong dare to abuse power?
How did the "Guo Huan case" and the "Kong Yin case" happen?

Every case involves tens of thousands of officials!

Under Lao Zhu's command, they dared to collude with each other and commit crimes collectively, but they hid it from Lao Zhu alone.

Could it be that when Zhu Yunhuan came to power, those people no longer dared to do so?

What's more, compared with corruption and abuse of power, the nature of Huang Zicheng's case is more serious.

There are many officials who will not participate in corruption and abuse of power, either because they consider themselves to be noble, or because they want to protect themselves, or because they are upright.

But the Huang Zicheng case involves one’s own life and safety, so who would just sit there and wait to die?
None of them can stand up to themselves alone.

But if they unite together, they can undermine the imperial power!

When the emperor gives an order, everyone in the world dares not disobey, but it is always just an appearance.

It only exists in jokes and games.

The operation of power in reality is much more complicated.

The people below will not really be obedient.

And will resort to various means.

Contradictions are everywhere, and struggles are everywhere.

Once you let your guard down, you may end up in trouble.

After Qi Tai finished speaking, he kowtowed again.

"Huang Zicheng and I both had a deep misunderstanding of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"When I finally understood it, it was too late to regret."

"Before I die, I will use this broken body to help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"I hope that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's reforms will be successful in the future, and from now on the gentry will no longer be able to annex land, and the poor will all have a place to stand. This will be a blessing for the Ming Dynasty and the people of the world."

"Even if Huang Zicheng and I are beheaded and leave a bad name for eternity, and are still reviled by the world for eternity, we are willing to celebrate for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, for the Ming Dynasty, and for the people of the world from the bottom of our nine springs!"

After saying this, he bowed three times respectfully again.

"There are seven confessions here, all related to Fang Xiaoru."

"I have already marked it. Your Highness will know it at a glance."

"The confession states that although Huang Zicheng and I tried to drag Fang Xiaoru into the water again and again and used words to secretly test him, he rejected us sternly every time."

"These confessions can prove Fang Xiaoru's noble character."

"This will not only prevent someone from using the Huang Zicheng case to attack Fang Xiaoru, but will also add fuel to Fang Xiaoru's reputation, helping him achieve the position of the second grandson of Confucianism and help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince achieve his wish."

"That's all I can do."

"Next, please have your Highness the Crown Prince execute Huang Zicheng and I with the death penalty. Cut us into pieces, skin us, stuff us with straw, and expose our bodies to the sun. Tell the world that this is the fate of traitors!"

He paused, and said with tears in his eyes, "Your Highness the Crown Prince can also cast a kneeling statue of Huang Zicheng and me, and nail the two of us to the pillar of shame forever, as a warning to future generations."

Qi Taichang couldn't stand up.

The courtyard was silent.

Zhu Yunhuan looked up at the sky, and saw a huge bird of unknown species flying across the sky high in the sky.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, there is only a faint shadow left.

The wind came from nowhere.

With a slight chill.

The thick confession in Zhu Yunhuan's hand was not bound at all, and it rustled when blown by the wind.

The paper turned over and rolled up.

Zhu Yunhuan stretched out his hand to flatten it, and looked down at the confession in the statement. He suddenly spoke, clapping his hands and said, "You said it very well, your words are generous and sincere, I am almost moved by you."

Zhu Yunxun had a faint smile on his face. "The strategy of killing spies has been used to such an extent. It is amazing. Mr. Qi is really good at strategy!"

The sound is calm, like a gentle breeze.

boom!
When Qi Tai heard this, it was like a bolt from the blue.

He stared blankly at Zhu Yunhuan. His bound body, originally still strong and energetic, seemed now to have been suddenly drained of its vitality, and he collapsed powerlessly.

……

(End of this chapter)