His entire family perished in battle; he rose from the ashes to conquer the world.

Noticing Mu Yuan's slightly tense expression, Zhu Xu said directly, "You should know these salt smugglers who colluded with the canal transport officials very well; they're from the Fang family!"

Upon hearing the name "Fang family," Mu Yuan's heart skipped a beat. He tried to remain calm and said:

"Your Highness, I don't recall the Fang family you mentioned!"

Zhu Xu wasn't angry. He smiled knowingly and said, "You don't remember the Fang family? You must remember the famous wealthy merchant family of Jiangnan!"

The scope has been narrowed down to the Fang family, a well-known wealthy merchant family in Jiangnan.

Even if Mu Yuan was stupid, he would know who the "Fang family, a wealthy merchant family in Jiangnan" that Crown Prince Zhu Xu was referring to was.

His fingertips clenched tightly inside his sleeve, his knuckles turning slightly bluish-white. The deliberate nonchalance on Mu Yuan's face hadn't completely vanished, but his voice was a fraction deeper than before:

"Your Highness is joking. There are quite a few prominent families with the surname Fang in Jiangnan. I really don't know which one you are referring to."

Zhu Xuduan looked up at Mu Yuan, his eyes shining like cold stars.

"Mu Yuan, it's no use pretending to be confused in front of me."

After a pause, Zhu Xu continued:

"Three days ago, the canal transport office seized three boats at the Guazhou ferry crossing. The boats were loaded with smuggled salt without official permits, totaling 2,300 shi (a unit of dry measure). Guess what? The boat owners' name cards clearly showed the name Fang Bai."

Mu Yuan's heart sank.

Fang Bai is the head of the Fang family and Fang Yuyan's cousin.

Although Fang Yuyan was not caught this time, if Zhu Xu wanted to investigate further based on this clue, he could send people down to investigate and follow the trail until Fang Yuyan, the third sister-in-law, was found out.

At that time, they will also bring up the matter of selling smuggled salt to improve the food and pay the soldiers of the Western Army.

This is a very important matter that could have far-reaching consequences.

"I never expected that my fourth brother would actually do me such a good thing," Zhu Xu said with a profound meaning.

Zhu Qi originally intended to use the excuse of sending a memorial to help Mu Yuan out of his predicament.

Unexpectedly, the memorial became the most advantageous thing to threaten Mu Yuan.

It should be noted that Zhu Xu had put a lot of effort into winning over Mu Yuan, and had a thorough understanding of the entire Mu family, including the seven sisters-in-law of the Mu family.

The purpose was to find out Mu Yuan's weakness.

During this period, Zhu Xu tried to coerce and entice Mu Yuan many times, but failed to accurately find the key to control Mu Yuan.

However, this time is different.

The memorial explicitly states that Fang Bai of the Fang family colluded with officials in charge of transporting grain to sell smuggled salt.

Although the Fang family is a wealthy merchant family in Jiangnan, Fang Yuyan, a descendant of the Fang family, is the daughter-in-law of the Mu family.

If investigated for selling smuggled salt alone, no one in the Fang family would escape execution.

Secondly, the Mu family will also be implicated as a result.

Feeling that he had grasped Mu Yuan's weakness, Zhu Xu immediately threatened Mu Yuan again:

"Mu Yuan, you should know that salt is a commodity controlled by the imperial court. Selling smuggled salt is a capital offense, and bribing officials involved in the grain transport makes it even more serious!"

"According to what I've indicated, the third daughter-in-law of the Mu family, who is also your third sister-in-law, also has the surname Fang. If I review this memorial and forward it to the Ministry of Justice for investigation, guess what the consequences will be?"

Mu Yuan didn't respond, frantically racking his brains, trying to find a solution quickly.

Seeing Mu Yuan remain silent, Zhu Xu seemed to see through him and said:

"You don't need to rack your brains to find a way. The decision is in my hands. If you submit to me, I will pretend I didn't see this memorial. On the contrary, if you still want to do things your own way, this memorial in my hands will definitely appear in the Ministry of Justice."

At this point, Zhu Xu smiled sinisterly and continued, "Xu Wei, the Minister of Justice, has quite a connection with your Mu family. Why don't you guess what his feelings would be if he were in charge of this case?"

After saying that, Zhu Xu burst into loud laughter.

outside the house.

Zhu Qi frowned upon hearing Zhu Xu's maniacal laughter.

Although he didn't know why Zhu Xu was laughing, he could guess from the laughter that Zhu Xu must be happy about some joyous event.

Anything that makes Zhu Xu happy is related to his own interests.

Thinking of this.

Zhu Qi felt a sense of foreboding.

He wanted to rush in, but because Zhu Xu was the crown prince, he could only watch anxiously from the outside.

inside the house.

After careful consideration, Mu Yuan still couldn't come up with a way to clear the Fang family's name. After all, the fact that the memorial could be sent to the capital already proved that the Fang family's activities of selling smuggled salt and bribing officials in the canal transport system had been exposed.

The only way out is to submit to Crown Prince Zhu Xu.

otherwise.

He forwarded the memorial to the Ministry of Justice.

What awaits the Fang family is utter annihilation.

The Fang family is also the maternal family of Fang Yuyan, the third sister-in-law. Moreover, Fang Yuyan's smuggling of salt was also at Mu Yuan's behest.

Therefore, he cannot allow anything to happen to the Fang family.

on the other hand.

Mu Yuan knew that the emperor had no intention of handing the throne over to Crown Prince Zhu Xu.

Submit to his words.

This is also extremely detrimental to the Mu family.

After all, in the emperor's eyes, there was someone else who could inherit the throne.

If the emperor's chosen successor were to ascend the throne, he would inevitably purge all his political enemies.

Throughout history, if a crown prince cannot inherit the throne, there is only one path: to be eliminated!

Submitting to the Crown Prince will inevitably lead to repercussions in the future.

Mu Yuan was well aware of the stakes involved.

Helping the Fang family and submitting to the Crown Prince is tantamount to digging a pit for the Mu family now, which will bring disaster to Mu Yuan in the future. Conversely, not helping the Fang family will lead to their annihilation.

At that time, Mu Yuan really didn't know how to face his third sister-in-law, Fang Yuyan.

At this moment, Mu Yuan felt torn between his two choices and didn't know which one to choose.

"So, what's your decision?"

Zhu Xu deliberately gave Mu Yuan a chance to consider, but Mu Yuan did not give him an answer for a long time, which made Zhu Xu gradually lose patience.

Mu Yuan did not express his opinion, but instead said:

"Your Highness, I dare to make a request."

In order to win Mu Yuan's submission and gain control of the 200,000-strong Western Army under his command, Crown Prince Zhu Xu said impatiently:

"What are your requirements?"

"Give me a day to consider. I will give you a definite answer by this time tomorrow!" Mu Yuan stated his request.

Zhu Xu thought for a moment, then nodded and said:

"Alright, I'll give you one day to consider!"

With the memorial in hand, no matter how much Mu Yuan struggled, it was to no avail.

Of course, after agreeing, Zhu Xu didn't forget to threaten him: "You'd better not try anything funny in front of me. If you make me angry again, I won't have the patience to waste time with you!"

After threatening Mu Yuan, Zhu Xu thought of Zhu Qi waiting outside the door. If Zhu Qi hadn't been trying to help Mu Yuan out of the predicament and hadn't accidentally sent the memorial, he wouldn't have been able to exploit Mu Yuan's weakness.

This is such a good opportunity; I must give Zhu Qi a good mocking.

"Fourth brother, come in!"

Zhu Xu called out to the outside.