Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 491: The father is a tiger, the son is a rat, and all his descendants are pigs

Zhu Youxiao listened intently, but he didn't expect his father to suddenly ask him, "Ah?"

"What?" Zhu Changluo leaned forward and tapped Zhu Youxiao's hat twice, then repeated his previous question: "Let me ask you, what do you think will be the first assignment I give to those Jinyiwei sent abroad?"

"My father is a man of great talent and wisdom, how could a son like you know?" Zhu Youxiao shook his head blankly.

"I don't know, so I ask you to think about it." Zhu Changluo's gaze drifted to the tea tray brought by Wang An.

Wang An picked up the teapot and filled three cups in one gulp, then picked up one and drank it all in one gulp. After a few breaths, he handed the other two cups to the emperor and the eldest prince respectively. "Master, Your Highness, please enjoy."

Zhu Changluo took the cup, took a sip, and urged, "Whatever you can think of. Speak boldly. It doesn't matter if you guess wrong."

"Could Your Majesty please give me some hints?" Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly as he took the cup, and a thoughtful look gradually appeared on his face.

"No, think about it yourself." Zhu Changluo handed the cup back to Wang An and asked casually, "Wang An, what do you think the task will be?"

"Haha. I'm both stupid and dull, and I have absolutely no idea," Wang An chuckled, taking the cup and pouring another glass of water for the emperor. "However, I think since this is something the Jinyiwei are supposed to do, it's probably best not to say it in front of them, right?"

"You're just talking nonsense." Zhu Changluo said with fake anger.

Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment, his pupils suddenly shrinking. "Father, Father, have you not changed your mind?"

Zhu Changluo smiled and nodded, "My son is smart. I haven't changed my mind. Luo Sigong."

"I'm here." As father and son, master and servant, spoke, Luo Sigong, standing aside and deprived of water, was also pondering. In his view, the emperor's mission for the Jinyiwei was simply to closely monitor civil and military officials, preventing them from exploiting the emperor's extraordinary power for personal gain and damaging the court's reputation. But he also had a vague feeling that things were more complicated than that. "Change of mind"? What idea?

Luo Sigong looked towards the emperor and happened to meet his eyes. He did not dare to meet the emperor's gaze and quickly glanced away.

"Someone told me that Li Hun came to power illegitimately, and that's why he murdered his brothers, imprisoned his mother, and repeatedly launched major imprisonments. If that's true, then Li Hun's line must be deposed! Otherwise, there will be no justice. Therefore, the first mission I'm assigning to the Jinyiwei is to secretly gather solid evidence that Li Hun murdered his brothers and usurped the throne after the Joseon Crown Prince Yi Il assumed the regency. Not only must there be a large number of witnesses, physical evidence, and confessions, but we must also be able to piece together a chain of evidence and a storyline." Zhu Changluo stared at Luo Sigong. "Luo Sigong, send someone capable, do you understand?"

"Yes. I understand." Luo Sigong responded as calmly as possible. Cold sweat silently flowed down his back.

"Very good," Zhu Changluo nodded slightly and turned to look at Wang An: "Wang An."

"I'm here!" Wang An put down the pot in his hand and put on an attitude of listening attentively.

"Take Luo Qing to the Imperial Household Department now and have him beaten with those twenty family laws. It's up to you what to use and how to beat him." Zhu Changluo said.

"Yes." Wang An turned his head and smiled at Luo Sigong.

"Also, after the Jinyiwei matter is dealt with, go to the Dongchang to inquire about the situation. Report to me in the afternoon." Zhu Changluo continued to give the order.

"Yes." Wang An responded respectfully and subconsciously glanced at Zhu Youxiao.

"Go ahead." Zhu Changluo waved his hand.

"I'll take my leave." Wang An bowed.

"Your Majesty, I bow to thank you for your grace." Luo Sigong lifted his robe, knelt down, and kowtowed to the emperor again.

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Luo Sigong left, and Wang An also left. Only the emperor and the future emperor were left in the hall.

"You've also read that memorial." Zhu Changluo looked at Zhu Youxiao. "What do you think about this matter?"

When Zhu Youxiao heard his father's words, he immediately stood up, lifted his robe and was about to kneel down.

"I, your father, am not weak enough to need my son's comfort. Sit back down," Zhu Changluo raised his hand to stop Zhu Youxiao. "I just want to ask what you think about this matter."

Zhu Youxiao had already given it much thought. He sat back in his chair, straightened his posture, and suppressed the instinctive sigh of sadness, forcing a reassuring smile towards his father. "I believe that false prophecies are absolutely untrustworthy. This is a complete conspiracy. Someone deliberately linked the tragic death of my younger sister in infancy with my great-grandmother's belief in Buddhism, fabricating a false rumor."

Zhu Youxiao moved forward a bit, as if about to make a move. But he was old, and it was difficult for him to express overly strong emotions to his father like his younger brothers and sisters. "The Imperial Sister's case simply happened to be exploited. Even if the harem remained intact and the Imperial Sister grew up healthy, the perpetrators behind this farce would still use other events to fabricate rumors and false prophecies, trying to link the incident to Li Guochen's arrest. Their goal was simply to deter Father from pursuing those troublesome cases."

"I believe we must not grant their wishes. We must not only investigate those cases of embezzlement and detriment to the nation, but also this conspiracy and prophecy! This way, we can also comfort the spirits of my imperial sister and great-grandmother."

"Father originally thought that you would be frightened by this false prophecy. Father is surprised and happy that you think so." Zhu Changluo didn't want to talk about this matter. But at this time, he also smiled lightly and continued with this sentence: "The emperor's words, deeds and decisions will affect many things and many people. Some people will benefit from your decision, and some people will suffer losses because of your decision. The most valuable are those who have suffered losses or are willing to suffer losses and still support you. Such people are rare. There are many people in the world who support you because they benefit, and oppose you because they suffer losses." "It is difficult to oppose the emperor. This is because the emperor has almost endless power in his hands, which can be used to eliminate opponents. If you want to oppose the emperor but don't want to be eliminated by the emperor's power, you must put a layer of seemingly reasonable cloak on the act of resistance. For example, natural disasters, military disasters, palace fires, or just an ordinary astrological change, these things can all be interpreted as the collapse of heaven and earth and the emperor's immorality."

"You must remember that the standard of morality isn't determined by anyone's words, nor by public opinion. Right is right, and wrong is wrong!" Zhu Changluo looked deeply into Zhu Youxiao's eyes. "Father won't teach you how to judge right and wrong, because I might not be able to teach you well. You have to see and think for yourself. Father only wants you to remember this: Once the Emperor decides to do something, he must see it through to the end, regardless of what others say."

Zhu Youxiao nodded in confusion and asked, "What if you're halfway through something and find that a slight change would be better?"

"What do you mean by 'better'?" Zhu Changluo asked.

Zhu Youxiao thought for a moment and said shyly, "Can I use carpentry as an example?"

"A master of one thing, a master of all things. Just tell me what you say." Zhu Changluo nodded.

Zhu Youxiao said: "Some of the most brilliant carvings are the result of a flash of inspiration during the carving process. This flash of inspiration is something that could never be imagined at the beginning of the design."

"You gave a good example," Zhu Changluo thought for a moment and said, "Governing a country is actually not much different from carving a piece of wood. From the initial design of a policy system to its official promulgation, to the impact it has, to feedback and adjustment, and finally to maturity and finalization, it can be an extremely long process. Just like the system of red-letter approval didn't start like this. Adjustments are indeed necessary. The laws established by our ancestors must be changed. If you really think that this knife should be changed, then change it. But you must remember that this change comes from your own flash of inspiration. It's not someone else telling you that this knife should be changed. It's certainly not the wood telling you that this knife should be changed."

"Wood can't talk." The young man's thinking is divergent.

"That's a metaphor," Zhu Changluo tapped Zhu Youxiao's hat with his knuckles again, then turned around and smiled a creepy smile. "If wood could talk, it would be a spirit. Just chop it up and burn it!"

How could Zhu Youxiao truly not understand such a simple metaphor? "Father, who do you think is the one who can handle the demonic tree in this case of false prophecy?"

"What do you think?" Zhu Changluo asked indifferently.

"I know very little about these things," Zhu Youxiao shook his head gently. "But I don't think the Li family is the mastermind."

"Hmm," Zhu Changluo asked, "Why?"

"First of all, it's love. No matter what, the Imperial Great-Grandmother is also the aunt of Marquis Wuqing. The Li family is what it is today, thanks to the favor of the Imperial Great-Grandmother and the Imperial Grandfather. No matter how naughty Marquis Wuqing is, he would not do such a despicable and lowly thing like an animal."

"Then there's the question of wisdom. If this was truly the work of the Li family, it would be incredibly foolish and clumsy." Zhu Youxiao recalled the details of the memorial. "The memorial states, 'The imprisonment of the minister and the rise of the false prophecy took place within two days.' Almost immediately after Li Guochen's arrest, this incident unfolded, as if they were afraid others wouldn't know they were responsible. If the Guangning, Tianjin, and Tanggu cases hadn't implicated anyone else, I'd even suspect that this was a plot by the Li family's enemies, intent on destroying them."

"Hmm." Zhu Youxiao got a lot of details wrong. For example, Li Guochen wasn't arrested, but had thrown himself into prison. "What else?" Zhu Changluo nodded again, because he didn't think the Li family was responsible for this case.

After the gathering at Tsinghua Garden, the East Factory's surveillance of the Li family, particularly Wuqing Marquis Li Mingcheng and his heir, Li Guorui, was heightened to the highest level, short of outright siege and arrests. Every entrance and exit to Tsinghua Garden was closely monitored. Unless the Li family had dug a secret passage or someone scaled the wall at night, anyone entering or leaving Tsinghua Garden, regardless of their status, would be followed by East Factory agents. It was impossible to send so many people simultaneously into the capital's various districts to spread rumors without being discovered by the East Factory.

"Other than that, I don't know." Zhu Youxiao said, "Please teach me, father."

Zhu Changluo also seized upon the topic. "Since it's a demonic tree, it naturally refuses to be carved. And in this case, there are simply too many trees that refuse to be carved. First up are the Marquis of Yangwu, the Earl of Pingjiang, and the Earl of Boping. As the memorial states, they're directly implicated in the Guangning and Tanggu cases, making them the most suspects. But if we really dig deeper, there's more than just them involved. Duke Chengguo, Marquis Gongshun, Marquis Funing, Earl Xinning, Earl Xing'an, and Earl Yingcheng!"

Zhu Changluo actually sighed this time. "I'm too lazy to list them. Anyway, anyone who made a fortune by exploiting national disasters is considered a suspect. As the saying goes, if the father is a tiger, the son will be a rat, and all his descendants will be pigs. Our Ming Dynasty has been around for 250 years. Although we have many dukes and marquises, there are only a handful of truly useful ministers. I don't expect them to lead troops into battle like our ancestors did, but even if I just wanted to reduce their gains, it's actually difficult."

After hearing his father's words, Zhu Youxiao's eyes dimmed. "Father, what are you going to do with these people? Arrest them all and interrogate them?"

"I can't do that, and I won't do that. If I round up all the nobles and relatives in the capital, interrogating and torturing them, I'd no longer be the Ming Emperor, but the Prince of Rebellion." Zhu Changluo smiled wryly, relaxing his shoulders. "The Prince of Rebellion could do that, but the Ming Emperor couldn't. As rotten as these people are, they're the face of our Ming Dynasty. If we destroy them all, no one in this world will believe in hereditary meritorious service, or titles for wives and children."

Zhu Youxiao asked doubtfully, "Father, what kind of king is the King of Chuang?"

"He's not the King of Rebellion yet, just a postman." Zhu Changluo thought for a moment and corrected himself, "No, the King of Rebellion isn't even a postman now. Never mind, it's not important." Zhu Changluo reached out and patted Zhu Youxiao's slightly swollen face. "Father won't let him give it to you and cause trouble for the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Youxiao had no idea what his father was talking about. He just felt a strong warm current flowing down his cheeks and into his heart.

Zhu Youxiao shrank back awkwardly, and half-changing the subject, asked, "What if the Marquis of Yangwu, the Earl of Pingjiang, and the Earl of Boping were not the ones who fabricated the prophecy?"

"Don't worry about it," Zhu Changluo waved his hand nonchalantly. "Cui Wensheng still remembers the twenty lashes of the cane. He'll catch the criminal."

"I'm a little confused," Zhu Youxiao said, hearing the name "Cui Wensheng." The morning's confusion crossed his face once again. "Weren't the two factories and one guard punished for keeping the truth from Father? Can they still be trusted in this case? Why didn't Father just let the Censorate handle the case directly, as he did with Europa's case?"

"Why do you think the two factories and one guard were willing to unite and hide it from our father? Or, who asked them to unite?" Zhu Changluo asked back.

"Yes..." Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment, but he immediately reacted. "It's Wang An!"

(End of this chapter)