Chapter 163 Rebellion
Wen Yuanji rushed to Chunhe Palace and soon brought the prince's order.

Niu Shisan has also gathered his men.

Hundreds of captains on duty have gathered in a murderous manner.

At this time, in the palace... a court meeting had already begun.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat at the top and looked down at all the ministers.

Yesterday, the Yiluansi reported some things that happened in the market, and Zhu Yuanzhang showed an indifferent attitude towards it.

But… just as the court meeting began, an imperial censor stepped forward and reported, “Your Majesty, I have heard something…”

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Yes."

The censor said, "I heard that Deng Qianqiu, the head of the Chunhe Palace, accepted a huge bribe. Now everyone in the city knows about it. The bribes involved include Hu Ji, a large amount of land, and gold and silver. The amount is shocking. This dynasty has always been very strict in governing officials, in order to prevent it from happening again and avoid repeating the mistakes of the Yuan Dynasty. I think... this matter is of great importance, and I implore Your Majesty to investigate it thoroughly."

Zhu Yuanzhang had no expression on his face.

Another imperial censor said, "I heard that there were 20 to 30 foreign concubines involved, and there were thousands of hectares of fertile paddy fields. It's really shocking... And both parties are military officials. Now the whole city is in turmoil, and the people all over the country are talking about it. Your Majesty..."

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he was shocked.

Is that much?

Deng Qianqiu didn’t say anything either.

But he remained calm.

Many people noticed something strange when they saw Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude.

In the past, given Zhu's temper, he would have been furious even if it was just a Hu girl, an ounce of silver, or an acre of land, let alone such a huge amount of corruption.

For Your Majesty, your courage to do this is not a question of numbers, but a question of attitude.

If you dare to take one tael today, you will dare to take one million taels tomorrow.

What's more, this matter is indeed appalling. It is already the biggest case of corruption and abuse of power in the fourth year of Hongwu.

But His Majesty's calm attitude was beyond everyone's expectations.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Hu Weiyong calmly and asked, "What do you think, Mr. Hu?"

When the officials saw this, many of them already had some ideas in their minds.

As usual, when the Censors impeach someone, the first person Your Majesty should question should be Liu Ji, the Chief Censor who is in charge of the Censorate.

But when His Majesty suddenly asked Hu Weiyong, people realized the crux of the problem.

You must know that Hu Weiyong was from Huaixi, and those involved, whether it was Deng Qianqiu, Lu Zhongheng, Fei Juren and others, were all military officials from Huaixi.

Would Hu Weiyong want severe punishment for this matter?

Your Majesty is unfathomable. Since he asked this question, he must have a purpose.

Hu Weiyong said, "Your Majesty, this is groundless. I really don't know why it has suddenly spread all over the city overnight. I think this must be a conspiracy to alienate the emperor and his subjects. So... my advice is that you don't have to care about it and just let it go."

The effect Hu Weiyong wanted to achieve was to make the matter a big deal without having to investigate it thoroughly.

With so many meritorious officials involved, Your Majesty must certainly think carefully about this. Moreover, if all the meritorious officials become insecure, it will not be a good thing for the court.

The most important thing is that Deng Qianqiu is involved with the palace and even the prince. It is clear without much thought that this matter must be put to an end.

And this... is actually enough for Hu Weiyong. Deng Qianqiu and others will not be punished, but His Majesty is probably also worried about Deng Qianqiu, Lu Zhongheng, and Fei Ju.

Once trust is shaken, this Deng Qianqiu... is just a thousand households, just a small figure not worth mentioning.

Lu Zhongheng and Fei Ju, having suffered such a hardship, were afraid that one day His Majesty would take revenge on them. In order to survive, they would have to rely on each other even more. Then, wouldn't these two be at the mercy of Hu Weiyong?

This is his original intention!
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang looked stern. He nodded to Hu Weiyong, but then turned to the left prime minister Wang Guangyang and said, "What do you think, Mr. Wang?"

When Wang Guangyang was called out, he paused for a moment before he stood up and said, "What Mr. Hu said is not without reason."

Everyone here knew that Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong had always had a bad relationship, and Hu Weiyong had long been eyeing the position of left prime minister. Because of this, the ministers headed by Wang Guangyang and the Huaixi civil and military ministers headed by Hu Weiyong had been at odds with each other.

But this time, Wang Guangyang did not dare to act rashly. Although those involved were all meritorious officials from Huaixi, if he asked His Majesty to conduct a thorough investigation, it would be tantamount to openly tearing his face off, and it would make people suspect whether he was behind this matter.

And once all the civil and military officials in Huaixi believe that this was Wang Guangyang's behind-the-scenes move, and that his purpose was to torture the Huaixi heroes to death, then... there would surely be a huge backlash from all the Huaixi heroes, and by then, God knows what kind of storm would be triggered.

Wang Guangyang thought that now was not the right time to break up with the other party, and the timing was not right. Moreover, the suddenness of this case made him hesitant... He was not sure who was responsible for this, so he was more cautious.

Therefore, his statement was not so much an agreement with Hu Weiyong as it was an attempt to distance himself from the matter. But obviously, he was very reluctant, so… His answer was not unreasonable, and the meaning was self-evident. He reserved the right to be unreasonable.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not comment on Wang Guangyang's answer, but looked at Liu Ji.

Liu Ji already felt like there was something stuck in his throat. All the officials' eyes were on him, making him feel like a thorn in his back.

He sighed silently in his heart. He didn't want to compete with others, but... there were disputes everywhere, both in the temple and outside the court.

Being in such a critical position, he carries the expectations of thousands of people, but he is also a thorn in the eyes and flesh of thousands of people who want to get rid of him as soon as possible.

At this time, Wang Guangyang and Hu Weiyong also looked at him.

Wang Guangyang's eyes seemed to be saying, there are some things that I, the Left Prime Minister, cannot say, and you, the Chief Censor, should report the facts and make the matter as big as possible. In this way, the Left Prime Minister can distance himself from the matter, and this case... can be thoroughly investigated.

There was a hint of smile in Hu Weiyong's eyes, as if he regarded Liu Ji as a plaything, and seemed to be teasing him: How dare you, Liu Ji, do you dare to act rashly?

Liu Ji could only suppress his complicated feelings, prostrated on the ground, and kowtowed to Zhu Yuanzhang, saying: "Your Majesty... this is an extraordinary event. I think that if this matter... is spread, it will inevitably cause the Marquis of Ji'an, the Marquis of Pingyuan, and the Captain Deng to suffer unjust grievances. They are all loyal people who have made contributions to the country. Such meritorious officials are being criticized by the public. How can the court sit idly by? I think... the imperial censor should be sent to clarify the situation and conduct some investigation to clear the grievances of the three meritorious officials. In this way... we can stop the people from talking nonsense and restore the reputation of the three meritorious officials, so that shameless villains will not use this to cause trouble..."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the officials were furious.

Liu Ji's words not only fulfilled his duties as the Chief Censor, but also did not offend anyone too much with his words, and he also stood firm on his own position.

But Hu Weiyong couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, but he knew what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking and knew that this case would not be investigated further, so he smiled and glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang secretly.

Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed on pins and needles. As an emperor, how could he sit back and do nothing when he was involved in such a scandal? He had previously executed so many ministers in order to discipline officials. It was impossible for him to stop just because he encountered Lu Zhongheng and others.

But on the other hand, this Deng Qianqiu… was acting on orders, although this bastard… seemed to have collected a lot more…

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and said, "Since it is fabricated out of nothing, what is there to investigate? If we ask the censors to investigate thoroughly just because of this unfounded rumor, there will be no peace in the world... I will order the Yiluansi to investigate this matter..."

Obviously, this statement is very meaningful. Without going through the censor, the Yiluansi was directly used. The Yiluansi was controllable and not controlled by anyone in the court. It was directly under Zhu Yuanzhang!

In this way, even though the investigation has been carried out, how to make the decision after the investigation is up to Zhu Yuanzhang.

To put it bluntly, it’s better not to check.

Some officials were disappointed, while others were secretly happy.

At this moment, a eunuch came hurriedly.

"His Majesty……"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at him coldly and became furious. What made him angry was that this eunuch dared to be so unruly as to intrude when the emperor and his ministers were discussing military and national affairs.

But soon, he calmed down and realized that something important must have happened if he came here to report at this time.

So Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Speak."

The eunuch looked a little anxious, and he bowed and said, "The Thousand Households of Chunhe Palace... suddenly mobilized a hundred or so soldiers... and surrounded the mansion of Marquis Ji'an. Another group of soldiers searched a farm on the outskirts of the city... Marquis Ji'an was furious and led his family to confront them... The soldiers from the Five Cities Military Department and Yingtian Prefecture saw that the situation was not right, so they all left..."

"What?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked surprised after hearing this.

And this... was obviously beyond everyone's expectations.

The deployment of troops is an extremely sensitive matter. Without the imperial order, who would dare to deploy troops easily?

Although there were only a few hundred people involved, the seriousness of the matter was evident enough.

Moreover, they even surrounded the marquis's mansion and confiscated the land at will. If they did this without any imperial decree, such wanton behavior could be said to be no different from treason.

All of a sudden, the ministers began to become agitated.

Zhu Yuanzhang held the imperial desk with his hands, his face tense and angry.

He said angrily, "What do they want to do? Do they think this capital is a market? Are they going to fight at the feet of the emperor?"

"This is outrageous! They are rebelling! Someone, summon Xu Da to see us! Summon Xu Da now!"

"According to the order."

Hu Weiyong's face also changed drastically. What he was thinking about was... to warn Deng Qianqiu and the other two... but he didn't expect... that bastard Deng Qianqiu, who took advantage of others and was still so arrogant and domineering, was even so bold as to want to fight with others.

How dare you do this after receiving the money?
…………

I really want to resume updating, but my body can’t take it anymore.

(End of this chapter)