Chapter 110: Killing Two Birds with One Stone, Hiding a Knife in the Sheath
"So, the group of miners who killed Zhang Chucheng were raised by Dong'an Prince Zhu Xianzhen?"

Hai Rui and Li Zaiting looked at each other, then looked at the Prince of Wugang who was spitting all over the place.

Zhu Yingyu slapped his thigh and said vividly, "Isn't it? Who in the underworld doesn't know this?!"

"Shi Chaofeng, the exiled villain, is obviously from Xixi, but he came to Huguang. Isn't it because my uncle has a bad reputation for stealing minerals?"

"Not to mention the distant past, the gang of miners from Huizhou committed a serious crime in the third year of Longqing, and they rushed to Huguang overnight to ask my uncle Wang for protection."

He was sitting upright at first, but as he was talking, he slid down and leaned back.

Li Zaiting's expression changed. "Your Highness, are you talking about the incident in May of the third year of Longqing when the miners attacked Wuyuan County in Huizhou, raided the government treasury, and burned down the government residences??"

Of course he had an impression of this incident. At that time, he had just started his career as a censor and had never seen the world. He was surprised for a long time when he heard about this.

In particular, the then Wuyuan magistrate Li Shixue failed to resist the enemy; the chief clerk Zhan Xiangwu fled in panic, abandoning the government treasury; and the commander Zhai Fengxiang just stood by and watched.

Although they were all punished, it is always hard to forget.

But I didn’t expect to hear the follow-up of this matter today.

Zhu Yingqi nodded repeatedly: "It's that case! There are many more like this! I don't know how many of these violent and wanton people are gathered around my uncle Wang now."

"How could an average person commit such a serious crime as murdering an imperial envoy? Only a vicious person would be well-versed in raiding the government treasury and burning down the county government office!"

Hai Rui suddenly interrupted him.

He asked directly, "Does Prince Wugang have any evidence?"

In addition to representing the emperor, he also represented the civil officials and the Censorate. When handling cases, he could not do as the Jinyiwei did, who would just rush to someone's house upon hearing any clues.

Zhu Yingqi frowned, looking somewhat dissatisfied.

He said so, could it be false?
Still need evidence? Don't you trust him?

Zhu Yingqi waved his hand: "Everyone in the Chu Palace knows about this. Would I lie to the angel? Anyway, I have provided the clues. The angel might as well investigate it carefully!"

He saw that the two imperial envoys were staring at him without saying anything.

Zhu Yingqi then added impatiently: "As far as I know, the gang of miners is now in Xingguo Prefecture and Daye County. The two imperial envoys may as well send people to search for them!"

"I heard that these are all core leaders."

"What is their relationship with my uncle Wang? Was the case in Linxiang County committed by them? All these will be known after the two imperial envoys conduct a trial!"

Xingguo Prefecture, Daye County...

The two of them were cheered up!
In Zhang Chucheng's case, the person in the foreground was Zhu Yingyan of Yueyang Palace, the matter of the pirates fell on the shoulders of Lishan Palace of Min Fan, and in the end, the only thing left was the traitor in the Sansi and the matter of the mine thieves.

Now that the matter of the mine thieves has been solved, the crime of Huguang is almost certain.

However... whether this prince can be trusted, and whether he has other intentions, is another matter.

Hai Rui's mind raced, and he glanced at Li Zaiting, who immediately understood and turned away.

The former continued to ask: "Then was the murder of Zhu Yingyan from the Yueyang Palace also done by the Prince of Dong'an?"

Zhu Yingqi immediately stood up and said in hatred, "It must be this person!"

"The Prince of Yueyang's Palace was separated from my Chu clan, and we have always obeyed the orders of the Chu family."

"Only my uncle Wang could kill Zhu Yingyan without anyone noticing!"

Hai Rui had become accustomed to the self-righteousness of the prince in front of him.

He asked patiently, "Does the prince have any evidence?"

Zhu Yingqi didn't say anything this time, he just held his head high and said, "Why do we need any evidence?"

Upon hearing this, Hai Rui could not help but shake his head secretly, thinking what a reckless person he was.

He couldn't help feeling a little regretful, as he thought it was a real thing.

Just as I was thinking about this, I heard Zhu Yingyan continue to say: "I have evidence that Uncle Wang and Zhu Yingyan were in collusion! It is enough to prove that Zhu Yingyan was the one who took care of Zhang Chucheng's matter for my Uncle Wang!"

Hai Rui was shocked, and finally became serious: "Where is the evidence?"

Zhu Yingqi snorted, "The evidence is in the Chu Palace. Angel, bring your guards with you and follow me to the Chu Palace. I will confront him face to face, and you will understand!"

Hai Rui pondered for a moment, then looked at the somewhat boastful and reckless prince in front of him.

Finally, he made up his mind and said, "No need for guards, I will go with you in person!"

In the end, we reached a compromise.

Zhu Yingqi was very confident and urged Hai Rui to hurry.

Hai Rui did not delay at all and quickly followed.

It's just right, it's time to meet the head of the Huguang royal family and the leader of the Chu clan.

……

If the governor's office served as the temporary residence of the imperial envoy, it would attract a constant stream of visitors.

As the Prince of Chu's Palace was conferred by Taizu and was the head of the Huguang royal family, it was natural that the doorstep was trampled upon these days.

People from all sides came to the gate of Dong'an Prince's Palace to make requests.

Prince Dong'an Zhu Xianzhen was even a little overwhelmed to deal with it.

But, there are some people that you have to see.

It’s the same today, and he even invited the people himself. He has a hard life.

Zhu Xianzhen sighed, picked up the teapot, and personally poured tea for the junior in front of him.

The two of them sat opposite each other across the tea table, and the atmosphere was a little tense.

Zhu Changling sat opposite the Prince of Dong'an with a fierce look on his face, and said in a deep voice: "Prince of Dong'an, this cannot go on!"

"You are the one who started this. Now the situation is out of control. Don't just ignore it."

It's crazy!

How dare a mere household slave massacre the royal family!
Even though he was only a general assisting the state or a general serving the state in the palace of a side branch prince, this sword was used to cut all members of the royal family!
Zhu Xizhong, with only a little clue, dared to lead the guards to break into Prince Min's palace and kill royal family members wantonly!
If he continues to investigate further, how should Zhu Changling deal with the situation?
Zhu Xianzhen filled the teacup and pushed it in front of Zhu Changling: "Prince Jing, please be patient. I invited you here for this matter."

His actions and expressions all showed that the King of Dong'an was calmer.

Perhaps it was because of his age, he had experienced all kinds of ups and downs, such as killing the king and usurping the throne, assassinating fellow clansmen, and beating local officials to death. Naturally, his character was much stronger.

He poured himself another cup of tea and said with some regret: "It's a pity that Zhu Xizhong didn't kill the King of Min as well. It would have been better if he had killed the King of Lishan."

After saying that, Zhu Xianzhen shook his head and took a sip of tea.

Zhu Changling was in no mood to argue with him, he just smiled coldly: "Prince Dong'an, please stop giving me riddles, otherwise I will lose my patience and won't bother to listen anymore."

"You and I will fight on our own then, don't blame me for ruining things."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Xianzhen gave a bitter smile.

He said helplessly: "At this time, I don't have time to play dumb with the prince. I just feel regretful."

"If Zhu Xizhong kills a prince during this trip and makes our fellow clansmen resentful and suspicious enough, then the chances of getting the imperial envoy to stop will be 30% higher."

Zhu Changling looked at Zhu Xianzhen quietly, waiting for his next words.

He looked like he would turn around and leave if he couldn't get to the point.

Zhu Xianzhen drank the tea in the cup in one gulp, and finally calmed down. He said seriously, "In my opinion, these imperial envoys are not only here to investigate Zhang Chucheng's case, but are here for us royal family members!"

"The emperor and the cabinet must have had some opinions on this."

"Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to give in to that extent and Wu Jinghe would still show no mercy."

"Zhu Xizhong would not dare to act on his own initiative and wantonly massacre the gentry, officials and royal family members."

"They are imitating Zhu Wan!"

That's what Zhu Wan was like at the beginning.

As Sejong's right-hand man, he was the governor of Zhejiang on behalf of Sejong. He took advantage of the excuse of suppressing the Japanese pirates to plow the local wealthy gentry and was extremely murderous.

Either they said it was Japanese pirates after the killing, or they simply said the Japanese pirates killed the people and frightened the local gentry so much that they fled with their families.

If you do something like this, impeachment is inevitable.

Gentry, censors, ministers, and memorials poured into Emperor Sejong's Wanshou Palace like snowflakes.

Seeing that Emperor Shizong could no longer stop him, Zhu Wan simply committed suicide by taking poison!
What else can we do if someone dies? The murder account in Zhejiang is naturally all settled.

I don't know whether the emperor has gotten some inspiration or the central government has learned from the old tricks and come to Huguang to do this. Now what Zhu Xizhong does is almost the same.

Speaking of business, Zhu Changling also focused his mind and followed his thoughts.

He asked tentatively, "So, what the Prince of Dong'an means is... no matter how many scapegoats they come up with to report to the imperial envoys, they won't stop!?"

This is the method he just mentioned.

This was all he could think of.

No wonder King Dong'an was dismissive. It turned out that he was too superficial and didn't see the root of the problem.

Zhu Xianzhen nodded, narrowed his eyes slightly, and chuckled: "Stop? I'm afraid they want to kill everyone like you and me!"

Zhu Changling's heart skipped a beat.

There was a gleam of cruelty in his eyes, and he finally couldn't hold back anymore.

He leaned forward and asked coldly, "Prince Dong'an said it was foolproof at the beginning. He looked confident and persuaded me to cooperate with you."

"What? Now that it's out of control, are we going to be killed?"

No matter what King Dong'an thinks, he will never sit and wait for death!
Once the investigation leads to him, he will definitely fight to the death!
Zhu Xianzhen stretched out his hand and pressed lightly, signaling Zhu Changling not to rush. The former sat up straight and said seriously: "I have a plan, which can not only force the imperial envoy to retreat, but also fulfill the promise I made to the prince!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Changling couldn't wait to ask, "How to do it?"

Zhu Xianzhen was somewhat disappointed when he didn't hear anyone else asking "What's the plan?" He thought that the man was truly uneducated and it was a loss of face to talk to him.

But the benefit is naturally good temptation...

Zhu Xianzhen immediately collected his thoughts, looked at Zhu Changling, and said word by word: "Sir, do you still remember the story of Emperor Chengzu?"

Zhu Changling was stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it, he immediately thought of the story about Emperor Chengzu told by Prince Dong'an!
At the beginning, Emperor Jianwen listened to slander and ordered the reduction of the power of the princes, bullying the royal family and humiliating relatives.

Fortunately, Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di led an army to quell the rebellion and restore order, thus avoiding a massacre of the royal family.

and so……

Zhu Changling looked encouraged and stood up immediately.

He was greatly encouraged, clasped his fists and saluted before leaving: "Since the King of Dong'an has such courage, I will immediately return to Qizhou to start an uprising and respond to the King of Dong'an!"

Snapped!
As soon as he finished speaking, there was the sound of porcelain breaking.

Zhu Xianzhen was so surprised that he dropped the teacup on the ground.

He finally came to his senses and hurriedly grabbed Zhu Changling!
Facing Zhu Changling's puzzled gaze, Zhu Xianzhen said unhappily: "That's not what I meant!"

He stamped his feet in anxiety, and finally pushed Zhu Changling back to the table with great force: "I didn't ask you to learn a story about rebellion!"

Zhu Changling frowned.

Zhu Xianzhen was secretly annoyed when he saw his stupid look - only a fool like him would be deprived of power by his own brother.

He calmed himself down and brought the topic back to the right track: "What I meant is not that Chengzu rebelled, but why Chengzu rebelled..."

Zhu Changling was a little confused and said as a matter of course: "Because Emperor Jianwen bullied us royal family members!"

Zhu Xianzhen nodded meaningfully: "Yes, the Emperor Jianwen oppressed the royal family, how similar is it to today?"

Zhu Changling still didn’t understand. Even so, what could he do?

If it's similar, then we're going to rebel! But didn't you just refuse to let me?

Zhu Xianzhen took a look at the expression of his great-grandson and sighed helplessly.

He simply explained himself: "Compared with the actions of Emperor Jianwen, the actions of Emperor Wanli are no different."

"They are just nitpicking and trying to find faults with us. They want to take back all our fiefs, manors, and palaces."

"The only difference is that the current emperor is treacherous and knows how to divide and defeat, so he deliberately bullies only the royal family of Huguang."

"It is because of Jianwen's example. If he had gone too far and forced the people too harshly, and chilled the hearts of the royal family, there might not be a second Chengzu. Even if he was worse, he could still destroy half of the country!"

Zhu Changling vaguely grasped some clues and seemed to be thinking about something.

He thought about it and finally realized: "So, not only should we report to the emperor, but we should also contact the royal families of other provinces and tell them that the lips and teeth are in danger!"

Zhu Xianzhen had completely given up on the possibility that this prince would be able to keep up with his ideas.

He lowered his head and rolled his eyes, then raised his head again and explained with a pleasant face, "Not to mention the question of whether it is feasible or not, it will take a lot of time. There is simply no time at all."

Zhu Xianzhen paused, and finally mentioned the key point: "Instead of colluding, why not have something big happen, let them mourn the death of the rabbit and the fox, and put themselves in the position of the Emperor Chengzu at that time."

Zhu Changling's eyes widened, his mouth couldn't help but open slightly, as if he had suddenly realized something: "No wonder Prince Dong'an said it was a pity that Zhu Xizhong didn't kill Prince Min."

Zhu Xianzhen shook his head: "This is not enough. After all, there is an excuse of Zhang Chucheng's case. People will feel at ease and comfort themselves."

"I originally planned to use the incident at Prince Min's Palace to add some spice, but now I think it's better to make it happen!"

He looked at Zhu Changling with an inexplicable expression: "Why not...reenact the incident with the King of Xiang, how about that?"

Zhu Changling stood up suddenly.

Prince of Xiang! The twelfth son of Emperor Taizu!

When Jianwen was reducing the power of the feudal lords, the whole family burned themselves to death!

The royal families all over the country were shocked, and Chengzu was heartbroken, and finally he made up his mind to put down the rebellion.

Once this happened, the momentum was naturally self-evident!

Not to mention forcing the imperial envoy to retreat, it is even harder to say whether the emperor can have a good birthday celebration.

As for how to re-enact the story of King Xiang?

The original fief of King Xiang was in Jingzhou Prefecture!
As the Prince of Jing, how could he not understand why Zhu Xianzhen asked him to come here!
His expression was uncertain, and he said in a hoarse voice: "The Prince of Dong'an wants the entire family of the Prince of Jing to commit suicide by burning themselves?"

The story of Prince Xiang will naturally shock royal families all over the world!

The problem is that the above chips are a little hard for Zhu Changling to accept.

Zhu Xianzhen didn't even look up, picked up the teapot again and poured himself some tea.

He said meaningfully, "Your Highness, you came to my door and did things for me. Isn't it because you want me to make a petition for you and compete with your brother for the throne?"

"Now if I help you 'persuade' them to self-immolate, wouldn't that kill two birds with one stone?"

The situation in Jing vassal state is no less complicated than that in Chu vassal state today.

The former Prince of Jing, Zhu Yiju, passed away in February of the fourth year of the Longqing reign.

But before his death, for some unknown reason, he submitted a memorial to Emperor Muzong, saying that the Crown Prince Zhu Changling was unfilial and requested that the second son Zhu Changxin be in charge of the affairs of the Prince of Jing's Palace.

As for where he was unfilial, the King of Jing didn't say.

Muzong was a man who did not care about worldly affairs. When he saw his old relative submitting a memorial, he did not ask any questions and just agreed with a wave of his hand.

But neither the Prince of Jing nor Emperor Muzong ever mentioned the matter of deposing the Crown Prince.

As a result, in the current Jing vassal state, the eldest son Zhu Changling is the prince's heir, while the second son Zhu Changxin is in charge of government affairs.

When two moons appear in the same sky, there will be great chaos.

This situation naturally leads to a fight.

Zhu Changling tried every possible means, but he was still unable to overcome his lack of wisdom.

Now, the voices in the palace have gradually become unified, and everyone is willing to depose the crown prince and let the second son Zhu Changxin succeed to the throne.

They even began to prepare to have the palace's chief secretary and eunuchs submit a petition to the Ministry of Clan Affairs.

The reasons were ready-made - Zhu Changling was unfilial and could not inherit the throne.

This forced Zhu Changling to seek support from outside.

Found the Prince Chu's Palace.

He lacks talent but has the throne of prince at stake, so it is not surprising that he can do anything. He is also a sharp weapon in Zhu Xianzhen's hand.

Zhu Changling was silent for a while.

Then he spoke quietly: "How can I survive?"

Chengzu had set a good example. If the story of Prince of Xiang were to be repeated now, it would not be something that a few imperial envoys could do on their own.

As long as the royal families all over the world feel the same way, the central government will also have to be cautious.

The idea was a good one, but the problem was... How should he, the prince of Jing, deal with it?
Zhu Xianzhen saw that he was wavering and smiled slightly.

He consoled her by saying, "They committed suicide out of fear of punishment. It's their business. The prince has been ostracized by the palace for a long time and knows nothing about it. Isn't it normal?"

"Besides...will the Central Authorities still be interested in pursuing the matter?"

Zhu Changling remained silent.

The tea room fell into silence for a moment.

The only sound left was Zhu Xianzhen pouring tea.

Finally, after a long time.

Zhu Changling let out a breath of foul air dejectedly and said weakly: "Then let it be so."

Zhu Xianzhen smiled with satisfaction.

He stood up and patted Zhu Changling on the shoulder: "My people are now hiding in the mine cave in Daye County. You will take my token and take them away later. You must get things done."

There was no lack of coercion in his words: "Whether you have the will but not the courage, or if the truth is revealed, you will die. This is the only way to survive!"

Whether the imperial envoy continues to investigate or the matter is exposed, they can only wait for Zhu Xizhong to come.

He believed that Zhu Changling should still understand the principle of seeking survival from death.

After saying this, he clapped his hands twice, and a trusted person opened the door and waited outside.

Seeing this, Zhu Changling pushed away Zhu Xianzhang's hand on his shoulder, turned around silently, and walked out of the room.

Zhu Xianzhen walked to the door of the tea room and watched him walk away with a smile. His expression turned cold only when he could no longer see him.

He put his hands behind his back.

He looked up at the sky and whispered to his confidant, "You go and follow them. Leave two of them alive so that everyone will know what Zhu Changling did."

He paused, smacked his lips and said, "Take Zhu Changling and run away to a deserted place to deal with him."

Kill two birds with one stone? Of course it is killing two birds with one stone!
However, forcing the imperial envoy to stop is indeed a good idea.

The other eagle, however, did not want to help Zhu Changling ascend to the throne, but wanted to pin the crimes of supporting mine thieves and assassinating Zhang Chucheng on the head of the Prince of Jing!
After saying this, Dong'an King Zhu Xianzhen put his hands behind his back and turned away slowly.

(End of this chapter)