Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 332: Strategy and Mastery! Why Fear Death?
Li Boyue's face turned pale instantly, his legs went limp, and he fell to his knees with a plop.

The dull sound of the knee hitting the ground seemed particularly abrupt in this slightly quiet room.

His body was shaking uncontrollably, his forehead was quickly covered with beads of sweat, his hands were tightly clasped together, and he kowtowed to Zhu Gaoxu repeatedly.

That attitude was extremely humble.

He kept wailing, "My Lord, this is absolutely true! I would never dare to lie. If you have any doubts, you can take someone to check it out yourself. I am willing to accompany you throughout the process to prove my innocence."

After he finished speaking, he seemed to suddenly remember something, turned his head hastily, and shouted at the top of his voice:

"Come here! Quickly open all those empty ammunition depots so that the little prince can see it with his own eyes, and let the little prince know that what I said is true."

Then he stood up tremblingly, bent his waist, and carefully led Zhu Gaoxu towards the ammunition depot.

He looked like a frightened quail, afraid that he would accidentally make Zhu Gaoxu even angrier.

When everyone arrived at the ammunition depot, they saw that the spacious warehouse was empty and silent. Not to mention a million bullets, there was not even the shadow of a bullet.

Zhu Gaoxu's face was as gloomy as the sky before an approaching storm, with dark clouds covering the sky, which was daunting.

His eyes were tightly narrowed, with anger and unwillingness flashing in them. His gaze moved back and forth between Li Boyue and Lu Youlin, as if trying to find a flaw in their faces.

He thought to himself: Li Boyao's acting skills are quite superb. He performed this play flawlessly. Anyone who saw it would be deceived by his sincere appearance.

But am I the ignorant person who can be easily deceived?
This bullet factory must be hiding other unknown ammunition depots, but Li Boyao just gritted his teeth and refused to admit it.

However, I had just arrived and was completely unfamiliar with the layout and internal affairs of the factory. No matter how angry I was, I was helpless and could do nothing.

"Tens of thousands of bullets? Humph! Whatever, a few tens of thousands of bullets will be enough for the time being!"

Zhu Gaoxu calculated quickly in his mind, with a sinister and fierce look in his eyes.

A mere 50,000 rounds of bullets is definitely not enough.

The personal guards under King Zhou had never had the opportunity to come into contact with guns, and they were all a group of soldiers who were quite unfamiliar with firearms.

After the 3,000 guns are distributed, they still need to be taught how to use them.

No matter how economical you are, live-fire training is still essential.

If we roughly calculate that each soldier consumes 20 rounds of bullets, at least 60,000 rounds of bullets would be needed just for initial training.

Fifty thousand rounds of ammunition is not even enough for training.

However, from another perspective, this action is not intended to immediately engage in a confrontation with a well-equipped and well-trained regular army.

It is enough to just give the soldiers some guidance so that they know how to shoot and can roughly master the basic operation of the gun.

First, try to collect these tens of thousands of bullets and use them to arm the people outside.

Once these people have muskets and bullets, they can be quickly dispatched to take control of the bullet factory with lightning speed.

By then, would we still be afraid that Li Boyue and others would not obediently hand over all the bullets?
"Then you should give me 50,000 rounds of ammunition first."

Zhu Gaoxu suppressed the anger that was about to burst out of his heart, and said in a low and cold voice, "You can't be unable to take out this amount of bullets, right?"

"This...this..."

When Li Boyue heard this, the respectful smile on his face instantly became extremely stiff. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he spoke hesitantly, as if something was choking his throat.

There was a barely perceptible flash of panic in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

After a long while, Li Boyue seemed to have finally made up his mind. He clenched his teeth, the veins on his forehead bulged slightly, and he stamped his feet and said:

"Well! Since the young prince is so insistent, I will collect these 50,000 bullets for him even if it costs me my life."

"As for the remaining 950,000 rounds of ammunition, please rest assured, Your Majesty. Once the factory works overtime to produce them, I will definitely send someone to deliver them to the Ministry of Justice as soon as possible. I will not dare to delay for even a moment. Your Majesty can rest assured."

Zhu Gaoxu glared at him fiercely, and that look seemed to be able to see through people.

I snorted inwardly: This guy is really good at speaking, his talking skills are amazing, his words are very high-sounding and beautiful to the ear.

But who knows what kind of wishful thinking he has in his heart?

I'm afraid he is the only one who knows best.

But it doesn't matter. Once I get these 50,000 bullets, I will immediately make him understand how miserable the consequences will be if he offends me.

At that moment, Zhu Gaoxu took the 50,000 bullets and quickly left the bullet factory under the gaze of Li Boyue, which seemed respectful but was actually wary.

As soon as he stepped out of the factory gate, Lu Youlin couldn't wait to come up to him, and asked with a puzzled and dissatisfied look on his face: "Our factory clearly still has a lot of bullets, why are you saying that there are none?"

Li Boyue did not answer his question directly, but asked: "Why? Do you want to distribute all these one million bullets to the young prince?"

Lu Youlin shook his head slightly, a helpless smile appeared on his face, and he sighed and said, "If you hadn't offered to give him 50,000 bullets, I wouldn't have given him any."

After a pause, he continued, "The court has always been extremely strict in its management of guns and bullets. Although he has the official document from the Ministry of Justice, he has not been approved by the court's Assets Department."

"Besides, we just received a document from the Government Affairs Office with new and clear regulations. According to this new rule, we cannot receive bullets with just a document from the Ministry of Justice."

Li Boyue asked back: "If that's the case, why didn't you reject him directly and decisively just now?"

Lu Youlin smiled bitterly and shook his head. His expression became more bitter. He sighed and said, "After all, he is the chief of the Ministry of Justice, the son of the King of Yan, and the younger brother of our immediate superior, the chief of the Imperial Assets Department. With such a prominent status, how can we, as subordinates, easily afford to offend him?"

"Besides, you have already agreed just now, and I don't want you to be in an awkward situation, so I can only acquiesce."

Li Boyue looked at the direction where Zhu Gaoxu and his group left. The raised dust seemed particularly dazzling under the sunlight.

After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Send someone immediately to report everything that just happened to the Government Affairs Office without hiding anything."

"At the same time, the entire factory was ordered to immediately increase security and close all entrances."

"No outsiders are allowed to set foot in the factory without clear instructions from the Administrative Office."

Hearing this, Lu Youlin was shocked. He widened his eyes and asked, "What do you mean? Why should we take the initiative to report this matter? And why do we need to strengthen our vigilance so loudly?"

In Lu Youlin's opinion, although there were some procedural irregularities in distributing these 50,000 bullets to Zhu Gaoxu, it would not be a big problem that could not be solved as long as the corresponding procedures could be completed in time later.

It was nothing more than slightly modifying the time of receiving the bullets when reporting to the superiors, and directly filling in that the bullets were received only after the above documents were processed and all the formalities were complete. As long as there was no mistake in the number of bullets and the relevant documents were confirmed to be correct, they could still afford to change the actual time of receipt to a few days later as factory directors and supervisors.

Even if we were to check, we wouldn't find any problems.

But if I report this matter now, wouldn't that be equivalent to telling the Government Affairs Office that I and others have violated the rules?
How should I explain it when the time comes?

Li Boyue took a deep breath, his expression becoming more solemn, and he slowly said: "The bullet factory is of utmost importance to the safety of the Ming Dynasty."

"As the factory director and supervisor, we shoulder a responsibility as heavy as Mount Tai. We must not slack off in the slightest."

"The series of events that happened today are probably not as simple and clear as they appear on the surface."

Lu Youlin looked at Li Boyao with confusion in his eyes. His lips moved slightly, but he did not respond in the end.

Li Boyue continued, "As soon as we received the instructions from the Government Affairs Office, the little prince came impatiently to collect the bullets, and he only brought the official document from the Ministry of Justice."

"Have you ever thought carefully about the possibility that this instruction from the Government Affairs Office was actually issued specifically for the young prince to come and collect the bullets this time?"

As soon as these words came out, Lu Youlin seemed to be struck by a bolt from the blue, and his face turned extremely pale in an instant, without any blood.

His body trembled violently, and his voice trembled violently, and he said with a hint of tears: "You...you...you mean, the young prince wants to rebel...rebel?"

At this point, his voice was already filled with a hint of despair, "Then you...then you just gave him the bullet? This is not...this is not..."

Li Boyao's face was also extremely heavy. He shook his head slowly and said seriously, "I didn't say he wanted to rebel. But in everything, we should be prepared for the worst."

"You are right. We cannot afford to offend the young prince, nor do we dare to offend him."

"If he has no intention of rebelling, but is in a hurry to leave the capital this time and lacks some formalities, if we don't give him some leniency, once we offend him, you and I will probably have a hard time gaining a foothold in this officialdom in the future and won't be able to survive."

"Besides, don't forget that he is the chief of the Ministry of Justice."

Li Boyue looked solemn and said, "After your majesty ascended the throne, the military and politics were separated. Although the Ministry of Justice is not a military department, it is also a powerful institution with strong strength. Its military strength should not be underestimated."

"Just like our bullet factory, according to regulations, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for security."

"He brought a lot of people with him this time. I think they are quite capable."

"But the workers in our factory have bullets but no guns."

"Although the few armed guards are managed by the factory, they are assigned by the Ministry of Justice."

"If a conflict really breaks out, it's hard to say whether the guards will obey our orders when facing the head of the Ministry of Justice."

"So I could only calm him down first and not start a conflict on the spot."

Li Boyue took a deep breath and continued, "The situation is unclear now. We can only report it to the Government Affairs Office and let them make the decision. Then we can have an explanation."

"We are stepping up our guard to be prepared for any eventuality. If something unexpected happens, we will not be completely defenseless."

"If he really wants to rebel, he will definitely lead his troops to seize the bullets after he gets out."

"But as long as he is outside the factory, we can still control the guards inside the factory."

"If he dares to come again today, I will not let him take even a single step."

Lu Youlin Lu Youlin stood aside, listening quietly to Li Boyao's analysis. His face became increasingly ugly, like a dark cloud.

"rebel?"

His voice trembled slightly, and his heart was filled with shock and fear: "I actually ran into such an earth-shattering event? What should I do?"

Li Boyao patted his shoulder and comforted him with a smile: "Brother Lu, don't panic. This is just my guess and may not be the truth."

"You and I have known each other for many years and have been close friends. Now we are grasshoppers on the same rope, so I am telling you the truth."

"In times of emergency, we have to stick together."

At this point, Li Boyue suddenly changed the subject, and a hint of cunning flashed in his eyes.

"To put it another way, if he has no intention of rebelling, after we report this matter, even if the Administrative Affairs Office wants to blame him, he will be the first person to be held accountable."

"He is a young prince and the chief official of the Ministry of Justice. His family is now deeply favored by His Majesty."

"This time he came to collect the guns and bullets, perhaps because he was too hasty and anxious, resulting in incomplete procedures."

"It's not a big sin."

"Your Majesty, considering his status and past achievements, will not punish him too severely for this matter."

"Since he is to be given a lenient sentence, then naturally we cannot be severely punished for those involved."

"In this way, you and I may be able to benefit from it, so there is no need to worry too much."

When Lu Youlin heard this, the worry on his face eased a little.

He nodded slightly and praised, "Brother Li is still very strategic, knows when to advance and retreat, and has everything under control."

Li Boyue shook his head slightly, without revealing the slightest bit of smugness on his face. He just sighed and said, "I hope that I am just worrying too much, and that I can get through this safely without any danger."

He changed his tone again and continued, "You and I both come from humble backgrounds. We failed the exams many times in the past. Fortunately, Your Majesty did not abandon us and entrusted us with important tasks. I will never forget this great favor."

"If something unexpected happens, the only way to repay you is to die."

When Li Boyue faced Zhu Gaoxu just now, he was very humble and servile, which even made Lu Youlin feel a little ashamed.

If the two of them had not already been friends before he became the factory director and the factory supervisor, and if they had not known each other's character, Lu Youlin, who had a straightforward temper, would probably have turned hostile at that time.

Shame on me for being with someone like him.

However, when talking about "repaying with one's own death", Li Boyue's expression was extremely calm, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

Upon hearing this, Lu Youlin was startled at first, then he raised his head and laughed proudly, "I am a humble man, why should I fear death! I can repay the country's kindness, and my death is worthy!"

……

(End of this chapter)