Chapter 169 Fight to the death
Zhu Yuanzhang's questioning would make anyone feel terrified.

But Deng Qianqiu was calm and composed. Of course, at this time, a bit of grievance appeared on his face, and he replied: "Your Majesty, I have been greatly wronged."

All the officials were speechless, and some even showed contempt in their eyes.

To be honest, everyone in the world can cry out for injustice, but for you, Deng Qianqiu, who has irrefutable evidence, why are you crying out for injustice?
Even now, you are still stubborn?

Deng Qianqiu continued, "There are rumors that I have accepted bribes, and the amount is huge and shocking. I am a close minister to the Crown Prince and a mentor to the other princes. I would like to ask Your Majesty... What is the purpose of spreading such rumors against me?"

At this moment, many people were shocked and they subconsciously glanced at Deng Qianqiu.

Especially Hu Weiyong, there seemed to be a hint of shock in his eyes.

This Deng Qianqiu... really should not be underestimated!
This guy actually transferred a public case directly to the Zhu family's family affairs.

You must know that the current Majesty has always been extraordinary in protecting his family, which has never been seen in any dynasty.

Deng Qianqiu meant that attacking me was attacking the crown prince, and attacking all the princes; slandering me was slandering the Zhu family, and it was spreading rumors in the palace.

With this bundling, the nature of the matter was directly pulled to another level by Deng Qianqiu.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was silent and did not speak, because he was waiting for Deng Qianqiu to continue speaking.

Deng Qianqiu continued, "This not only involves me, but also two founding marquises. This is a serious matter. If we allow rumors to spread, I wonder what the military and civilians in the world will think of the palace and the crown prince, and what kind of criticism will they have towards the other princes?"

"That is why I dared not to report this to Your Majesty. This is because... if I report this to Your Majesty, I will inevitably be criticized by others and people will think that I am doing this because I am protected by Your Majesty. If those people with ulterior motives spread rumors again, it will be even more unpredictable."

After a pause, Deng Qianqiu continued, "Now that things have come to this, I have no way out. I can only rely on myself to clear my grievances. Moreover, the Qianhu Division has the duty to arrest traitors and seize evil words. I am just doing my duty. How can I mobilize troops without authorization? Moreover, in order to prevent criticism, I mobilized only a hundred officers. In advance, I have reported to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and asked for His Royal Highness's permission. Your Majesty, the Crown Prince and Your Majesty are one. Is it a capital crime for me to follow the Crown Prince's order to clarify this matter?"

The officials became even more silent.

Many of those who had originally planned to kill Deng Qianqiu also began to change their minds.

Because this really involved the crown prince, and among the hundreds of officials, there were many crown princes! These crown princes were either directly loyal to the crown prince, or had a great liking for the crown prince, believing that the crown prince would succeed to the throne in the future and would definitely bring about a new world.

At this time, any criticism against Deng Qianqiu would be equivalent to directly harming His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

When Hu Weiyong heard this, he actually realized that something was wrong. He sighed in his heart, but in the blink of an eye, he had already started a new plan.

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression obviously relaxed a lot. Oh, it turned out that it was the prince who ordered the troops to be mobilized. That's all right.

Of course, we still need to ask clearly what needs to be asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "But you arrested the dukes of the Ming Dynasty without authorization. What do you think of this?"

Deng Qianqiu immediately said, "Your Majesty, how dare I arrest Marquis Ji'an? At that time, I only took people and wrote a letter to ask Marquis Ji'an to go to the Qianhu Office to clarify the matter. But what I never expected was that Marquis Ji'an not only closed the door, but later, he was so crazy that he led his family to attack my people. I was fighting back, and I definitely didn't arrest Marquis Ji'an. But later, Marquis Ji'an led people to attack the personal army, and I had no choice but to capture him and bring him to Your Majesty. Everything is up to Your Majesty."

Everything is perfect.

At least the logic is self-consistent.

Deng Qianqiu, on the orders of the Crown Prince, sent a royal edict to invite the Marquis of Ji'an to come for a talk. However, the Marquis of Ji'an disobeyed the order and even tried to kill people. This was a huge taboo, and it was considered a good thing that he was not killed.

But there are always people who feel that there seems to be some loophole here. But for the moment, they don't quite understand it.

Of course, any logic is feasible, and for Zhu Yuanzhang, he just needed a reasonable and legitimate reason from Deng Qianqiu.

With this reason, this matter can be solved perfectly.

At this moment, someone stood up in indignation.

Before leaving the class, this person first glanced at Hu Weiyong, and then said confidently: "Your Majesty, this is all Deng Qianqiu's one-sided words. Now that things have come to this point, how can we listen to his one-sided words and let him off the hook? I think there are too many strange things in this matter."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the person who came out of the class, and found that he was an imperial censor. Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "So what do you think is strange here?"

The man spoke eloquently, "The possibility of the incident lies in the fact that Deng Qianqiu was corrupt and accepted a lot of benefits. And this... is the basis of all arguments. However, Deng Qianqiu directly ignored this point and talked about people in the market making up rumors. Your Majesty, there is no such thing as a rumor without a basis in the world."

At this point, he turned his gaze and said, "Deng Qianqiu, let me ask you..."

The censor looked at Deng Qianqiu with awe and asked, "Tell me the truth about whether you have married Hu Ji and how many of them you have married. I advise you to think clearly before you speak. If you dare to quibble in front of the emperor, don't forget the consequences of deceiving the emperor!"

As soon as these words came out, all the officials immediately felt a chill of murderous intent. This sentence alone was enough to put Deng Qianqiu to death.

Deng Qianqiu made so many excuses, such as spreading rumors to confuse the public, bringing people to clarify, and finally killing the person. In essence, they were all based on Deng Qianqiu's innocence.

But the rumor that Deng Qianqiu accepted benefits from others obviously could not be groundless. As long as Deng Qianqiu got the slightest benefit, it would be confirmed that Deng Qianqiu was corrupt and committed abuse of power. Then, in order to destroy the evidence, he arbitrarily mobilized troops.

At this point, who in this world can protect Deng Qianqiu?

Zhu Yuanzhang also felt something was wrong and frowned subconsciously.

Of course, he did not immediately refute the censor's words.

As the emperor, he couldn't tell others in front of all the ministers that it was okay for Deng Qianqiu to accept benefits, but others would have to be skinned and stuffed with straw and their entire family would be killed even if they took ten taels of silver?

Hu Weiyong was smiling as he observed Deng Qianqiu. He admired Deng Qianqiu's courage and bravery. At the last moment, he dared to fight to the death. This was very similar to him, Hu Weiyong.

It’s a pity... this kid is an enemy of Hu Weiyong.

What a pity...what a pity!
Anyway, let's send him on his way.

The censor continued to question: "Deng Qianqiu, why don't you dare to say it? Let me ask you, how many Hu Ji have you got?"

Deng Qianqiu looked at the censor without any fear, and replied without blushing or beating his heart: "Not even one!"

This statement came out.

The censor was stunned. He didn't expect that this guy would actually dare to deceive the emperor.

So he sneered in his heart, this is exactly the answer he wanted from you, Deng Qianqiu. You are corrupt and deceiving the emperor, you deserve to be cut into pieces.

He continued with a sneer, "How much wealth did you get from the Marquis of Ji'an? You are not going to say that you did not get a penny from him. If you have the guts, Deng Qianqiu, continue to deceive the emperor."

Deng Qianqiu said: "I dare not deceive you, but...I don't have any wealth...I am Deng Qianqiu, a clean and honest person. I don't have anything, so I don't have anything."

"Ha..." The censor seemed to have grasped Deng Qianqiu's weakness. His eyebrows moved and joy flashed across his eyes.

He glanced at Hu Weiyong out of the corner of his eye, as if proudly announcing to Hu Weiyong, "Don't worry, Mr. Hu, Deng Qianqiu is dead today."

All the officials couldn't help but secretly shake their heads. At this point, Deng Qianqiu had deceived the emperor and should be put to death.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was as cold as ice. He felt that this kid Deng Qianqiu was slowly falling into someone else's trap.

The censor said, "Then I dare to ask again, have you obtained the thousand hectares of good farmland on the outskirts of the city as rumored? These good farmlands, covering such a large area, are all fertile land. They are located in Shangyuan County and can be used to grow rice twice a year. I ask you, how many acres did you obtain?"

Deng Qianqiu was both angry and amused. He looked at the aggressive look of the guy in front of him, but felt that he was greatly wronged.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Deng Qianqiu said without hesitation: "No, I don't have an acre of land in Shangyuan County. What you said is completely false. You are making a false accusation!"

"False accusation?" The censor was furious. He did not expect that Deng Qianqiu was so shameless.

This censor was Hu Weiyong's confidant, so he naturally knew some inside information. He had already predicted that Deng Qianqiu had gained many benefits from it.

Now Deng Qianqiu's false accusation, to a certain extent, has brought him and Deng Qianqiu to the point of a life-and-death struggle.

He smiled coldly and said, "Really? False accusation? In that case, I have wronged you? Good, very good, the Marquis of Ji'an is here today, I don't believe that you can deny it in every possible way, Marquis of Ji'an..."

Ji'an Marquis Lu Zhongheng was tied up and sent to the emperor. He was already terrified. When he saw his accomplices attacking Deng Qianqiu, he was not happy at all, but even more panicked.

This happened in front of the emperor. Lu Zhongheng was afraid of Zhu Yuanzhang like a tiger. How could he dare to argue?

Seeing Lawrence Lu shrinking his head like a quail and not responding.

The censor became anxious and shouted, "Marquis Ji'an... Marquis Ji'an... say something."

Lu Zhongheng continued to bury his head, still without saying a word. No one knew that at this moment, he just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

(End of this chapter)