Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 183 I will never be a ruler who brings about the downfall of a nation.
It was late at night in the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace.

The cold wind outside the hall was howling tirelessly, but inside the hall it was so quiet that you could almost hear the passage of time.

A small-scale meeting, yet one that could determine the future of the empire, has just concluded.

On the weathered old face of Duke Zhang Weixian of England, the solemnity that had not yet faded still lingered.

The knuckles of Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were slightly white from gripping his fists for so long.

Zhou Quan kept his head down the whole time, like a silent iron tower, making it impossible to see his expression hidden in the shadows.

When everything was settled, Zhang Weixian led Tian Ergeng and Zhou Quan to bow and prepare to take their leave. Just as their hands were about to touch the heavy palace door, a calm voice came from behind them.

"Wei Zhongxian, stay behind for a moment."

This simple sentence seemed to possess a strange magic, causing Zhang Weixian and the other two, who were about to step out the door, to freeze in place.

Inside the main hall, Wei Zhongxian, who had been standing in the shadows in the corner as if he were one with the darkness, trembled almost imperceptibly when he heard these words.

Zhang Weixian, Tian Ergeng, and Zhou Quan asked nothing and said nothing.

As if they had rehearsed countless times beforehand, the three of them bowed in unison once again, performing an even deeper salute, and then quietly withdrew.

Zhou Quan thoughtfully and gently closed the heavy palace door from the outside.

"Squeak-"

After a soft sound, the whole world seemed to be split in two.

Outside the gate lies the Forbidden City, where the cold wind howls.

Inside the door was a realm where only the emperor and his minister remained, enveloped in extreme silence and flickering candlelight—a space for secret plots.

Silence fell over the warm pavilion.

Wei Zhongxian remained standing motionless in the shadows of the corner, head bowed. He knew that from the moment the palace doors closed, the very council that would determine everything had only just begun.

On the throne, Zhu Youjian did not speak again.

He slowly walked to the huge map of the Ming Dynasty and stopped in the southeast corner, which symbolized the most prosperous region of the empire. His figure almost overlapped with the vast territory, as if he wanted to bring the entire Jiangnan region under his control.

Under the light and shadow, the emperor's back view appeared both aloof and filled with an unparalleled sense of oppression.

After a long while, he finally spoke again, still with his back to Wei Zhongxian, and still in that calm and almost cold tone.

"You will accompany the emperor on this trip south."

Wei Zhongxian's body jolted violently. His heart, hardened by years of political ups and downs, was suddenly struck by a surge of warmth.

I'll accompany you!

These two words meant so much to him.

Zhu Youjian continued without pausing, "In the capital, I only need to leave the Duke of Yingguo to oversee things."

Wei Zhongxian almost instinctively buckled at the knees and knelt down with a thud, his deeply lined old face pressed tightly against the cold, smooth gold bricks.

He did not immediately shout "Imperial coaxing!" or swear oaths of loyalty.

Because he knew the emperor hadn't kept him around to listen to these things.

Wei Zhongxian suppressed the turmoil in his heart and slowly raised his head.

Those eyes, which appeared particularly cloudy in the candlelight, held no trace of flattery; instead, they were filled with an almost overflowing worry.

"Your Majesty..."

He spoke, not to ask for a favor, but to analyze the knot that had troubled him for months, leaving him puzzled and almost sleepless at night.

"This old servant...this old servant dares to presume," he said, carefully choosing his words, each syllable uttered with extraordinary difficulty, "Your Majesty intends to take action against the imperial clans, this old servant understands. This is a great undertaking that benefits the country and its people, a merit that will last for generations. But..."

His gaze seemed to pierce through the roof of the palace, looking towards some unknown being in the darkness.

"However, the 'Imperial Ancestral Instructions' are as solid as a mountain. The enfeoffment of princes as bulwarks of the country was a rule personally established by Emperor Taizu Gao, and it is part of the foundation of the nation. If it is openly shaken, all civil officials and scholars in the country will surely rise up to attack you and accuse Your Majesty of...disrespecting the ancestors. This accusation is too heavy."

The first shackle—ancestral rules. It comes from the source of bloodline, from the man who single-handedly created the Ming Dynasty, and is sacred and inviolable.

Wei Zhongxian didn't stop. He took a breath and continued, "Secondly, there's the matter of ethics and morality. Confucianism emphasizes kinship and respect in governing the country. Your Majesty is not only the ruler of the land but also the patriarch of the Zhu clan. If you were to harm your own relatives, even if they deserved it, those corrupt scholars would misinterpret it as 'cruel and ungrateful' or 'cold-blooded,' thus tarnishing your reputation as a 'benevolent ruler.'"

The second shackle is ethics. It comes from the thoughts that have bound China for nearly two thousand years. It is intangible and formless, yet it is like a net covering everyone's head.

Finally, Wei Zhongxian lowered his voice even further, almost to the point of being barely audible.

"Thirdly, there is the meaning of the word 'protective barrier' itself. Even if reducing the power of the princes only means cutting off their stipends and seizing their estates, it will inevitably be interpreted as destroying the Great Wall. At that time, countless people will make a big fuss about this, portraying Your Majesty as a lonely and isolated person, making you appear even more isolated and helpless."

After he finished speaking, the warm pavilion fell silent once again.

After saying this, Wei Zhongxian kowtowed deeply once again, ending his confession with extremely humble words.

"This old servant is dull-witted and truly cannot think of a way to resolve this deadlock."

These words expressed his genuine confusion. These three enormous obstacles, which seemed like gods and Buddhas, weighed on him like three insurmountable mountains, making it hard for him to breathe.

He laid out all the heavenly rules he could think of, rules that would have deterred any ambitious Ming emperor in history.

Wei Zhongxian wanted to know, he wanted to see with his own eyes just how determined the young emperor he was serving was.

Has the emperor truly considered going against the rules of his ancestors, the ethics of the world, and the opinions of princes, civil officials, gentry, and even wealthy merchants?

After hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youjian, who had been facing away from him, slowly turned around.

The emperor's face showed not a trace of impatience; on the contrary, his expression was unusually calm.

Those deep eyes gazed silently at Wei Zhongxian, who was kneeling on the ground, as if they could see through every corner of his heart.

Then, the emperor pointed to the huge map of the Ming Dynasty on the wall. His voice was icy and penetrating, "Wei Zhongxian, look here."

Zhu Youjian pointed his finger to the location of "Henan" on the map.

"More than 30% of the tax revenue collected by Henan province last year went to the expenses of the Prince of Fu's mansion! This does not even include the tens of thousands of hectares of fertile royal estates. The imperial court cannot even collect a single grain of tax rice!"

His fingers continued to move.

"The King of Chu in Huguang, the King of Shu in Sichuan... Look at these places," he traced a series of alarming marks on the map with his finger, "their royal palaces are like independent government offices! Local officials dare not question them; the laws of the court dare not intervene! My decrees are just a piece of waste paper once they leave Beijing and reach their fiefdoms!"

Finally, the emperor's finger struck heavily on the north side of the map.

The Jingnan Campaign serves as a stark warning!

"Wei Zhongxian! Tell me!"

"Is the empty words left by our ancestors more important, or the survival of this vast land?!"

"Is it more important for me to have a reputation for being harsh and ungrateful, or for the millions of people in the world who are starving to have a way to survive?!"

The entire warm pavilion buzzed with the emperor's thunderous roar, and the flames in the bronze incense burner seemed to shrink abruptly, as if intimidated by the force of the roar.

Zhu Youjian stared intently at Wei Zhongxian, every word he uttered seeming to carry the scent of blood and fire.

"They are not the Zhu family's bulwark!"

"They are festering sores on the weak body of the Ming Dynasty! They are maggots sucking the last drop of marrow from the empire!"

"If this problem is not resolved once and for all, the Ming Dynasty will surely perish at my hands!"

"And I—"

He paused for a moment, then with all his might, uttered the words that sent shivers down Wei Zhongxian's spine.

"I will never be the ruler of a country that leads to its downfall!"

Once and for all!
These four words struck Wei Zhongxian's mind like a purple thunderbolt that pierced the heavens and the earth, shattering all his previous doubts, confusions, and concerns into nothingness!
Wei Zhongxian understood.

What the emperor wanted was never a win-win solution.

He wants it eradicated!

It is to uproot these malignant tumors that have been entrenched in the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, and grind them to dust!
At this moment, all the shackles in Wei Zhongxian's heart shattered, and the fervor and trembling of his ultimate goal surged from his spine to the top of his head, making the blood in his body boil!

"This old servant...understands!"

Wei Zhongxian's voice no longer held any hoarseness or doubt, but only the resolute madness that had been completely ignited!
"If Your Majesty is ever to serve me, this old servant will gladly die a thousand deaths!"

He raised his head, his old face devoid of any emotion, only a wild, savage ferocity remained.

"When we marched south, this old servant was the most obedient dog in His Majesty's hands!"

"Whoever you tell me to bite, this old servant will bite!"

"Never give up until death!"

Zhu Youjian looked at him quietly, the terrifying storm in his eyes slowly subsided, and the unfathomable calm returned.

“Get up,” he said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Wei Zhongxian immediately got up from the ground, and his cunning mind began to work at lightning speed, presenting all the difficulties one by one.

"Your Majesty, if we want a permanent solution, then this is no small matter. This old servant believes there are three difficulties."

He was bowing, his eyes flashing with a fierce light.

"The danger of mutiny. The imperial clans have been operating in the local areas for hundreds of years and have many connections with the local garrisons and military households. If they are pushed too far, they may resort to desperate measures and incite a large-scale rebellion. How should we deal with this?"

"Then, the scale became enormous. Emperor Taizu enfeoffed members of the imperial clan, and their descendants have multiplied to this day, numbering no less than a hundred thousand named members. The law does not punish the masses, so how should we deal with them? We can't... we can't kill them all, can we?"

"Finally, there is the force of obstruction. The civil officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants are already deeply entrenched with the local princes, sharing common interests and rising and falling together. If we take action, they will inevitably outwardly comply but inwardly obstruct us, or even tip us off and sabotage us. This force is more difficult to deal with than the princes themselves."

In one breath, Wei Zhongxian laid out all the most foreseeable and most intractable practical difficulties.

After listing all these enormous risks, a deep confusion and...expectation flashed in Wei Zhongxian's eyes. He took a half step forward, his voice extremely low, as if he were telling a secret that would alarm even the gods.

He asked the most direct and crucial question.

"Your Majesty...please forgive this old servant for being so bold."

"You mean... that you intend to mobilize the entire capital garrison from the three major camps, and also draw some elite troops from the nine border armies, to march directly south, like Emperor Chengzu's Jingnan Rebellion, with overwhelming force... a thunderous strike?"

This was the most direct, daring, and only feasible method he could think of: to crush all conspiracies and resistance with absolute military force.

Faced with this ultimate question, Zhu Youjian did not answer.

He simply turned around slowly and looked again at the huge map, its light flickering in the candlelight.

Just as Wei Zhongxian held his breath, awaiting the final judgment, he saw the emperor's lips slowly curl into a meaningful smile.

Inside the hall, the charcoal fire in the bronze furnace burst into a brilliant spark again, the crackling sound particularly clear in the deathly silence.

As Wei Zhongxian gazed at the emperor's unfathomable back, a chill, even more biting than the wind outside the palace, suddenly surged from the depths of his heart.

He, Wei Zhongxian, spent his life scheming and plotting, believing himself to be the person who understood darkness best in the world.

But at that moment, he suddenly realized...

The emperor's plan was probably more daring than he had imagined—a southward campaign...

It's going to be even crazier, even... much more terrifying!
(End of this chapter)