Chapter 337: Assassination

When Chen Hong heard Zhu Youxiao's words, he knew the master was angry, so he quickly said, "Master, Chen He and Zhou Yi have both arrived. Wherever the Prince of Lu goes, he always brings those two with him."

"Have the Embroidered Uniform Guard take them into custody." Zhu Youxiao said directly.

"Yes, Master." Chen Hong quickly nodded, but still said with some hesitation, "Master, what about the Prince of Lu..."

To be honest, Zhu Youxiao really did have a bit of a headache. He could now be certain that the Prince of Lu was innocent.

Although the Prince of Lu was very stupid and dull, spending his days galloping about on pleasure-seeking outings, writing poetry, painting, and playing with women, knowing nothing else — but wasn't that exactly the result the Great Ming Emperor wanted?

After being raised for over two hundred years, everyone had been raised into uselessness. A man who had barely ever left his princely residence since birth — what achievements could you expect of him? What knowledge could he have?

Everyone around him indulged him and deceived him — what could he possibly do?

At a time like this, blaming the Prince of Lu for being stupid and dull — Zhu Youxiao really couldn't bear to do it. But the difficulty lay in the fact that the Prince of Lu was too stupid and dull. If he took his two subordinates now, who knew what he would think?

This gave Zhu Youxiao a splitting headache.

But the two men certainly had to be arrested — Zhu Youxiao had no hesitation about that.

After pondering briefly, Zhu Youxiao said, "Here's what we'll do: have the Embroidered Uniform Guard take the men, but don't alert the Prince of Lu. Tomorrow morning, invite the Prince of Lu into the palace. I will speak to him about this matter personally."

"Yes, Master." Chen Hong quickly acknowledged, then turned and walked outside, instructing Xu Xianchun to go make the arrests.

Outside, Xu Xianchun was already waiting.

This matter involved the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so Xu Xianchun had come personally. Although it wasn't a major affair, for Xu Xianchun, anything connected to His Majesty was no small matter.

Xu Xianchun had heard Chen Hong speak of the former Luo Sigong's fate several times. Xu Xianchun had no desire to make that kind of mistake. For a man with a strong lust for power, once something was in his grasp, he would never let it go back.

Seeing Chen Hong walk out from inside, Xu Xianchun hurriedly greeted him with a smile.

"Eunuch Chen, does His Majesty have any instructions?" Xu Xianchun said in a fawning tone.

Chen Hong glanced at Xu Xianchun. He was very satisfied with him — compared to the previous Luo Sigong, this Xu Xianchun suited his tastes far better. Because Xu Xianchun was better at getting things done — ruthless in his methods, yet also diligent and quick in his work.

Not like that Luo Sigong, worrying about this and fretting over that — he was practically the ancestor of overcautiousness.

This Xu Xianchun had none of those problems. Whatever was assigned to him, he could handle it quickly.

"Indeed, there is a task for you to handle." Chen Hong looked at Xu Xianchun and said, "Go arrest two people — the Prince of Lu's household steward and the chief eunuch of the Prince of Lu's household. One is called Zhou Yi, the other Chen He. Remember, arrest them quietly — don't alert anyone. Especially don't alert the Prince of Lu. Understand?"

"Rest assured, Eunuch. This is no problem at all." Xu Xianchun quickly said with a fawning smile. "If there are no other instructions, I'll go make the arrests now."

"Go on, go on." Chen Hong said with a smile as well.

After leaving Chen Hong, Xu Xianchun's face sank.

Xu Xianchun was by nature a gloomy man. When there was no need for a smile, he simply wouldn't smile. There were very few things in this world that could make him smile.

Only when a smile was required would Xu Xianchun smile. But that kind of smile was somewhat fake — it never came from the heart. Besides, he was about to go make arrests now; he had no mood for smiling. What he wanted to do more was make people cry.

Xu Xianchun led the Embroidered Uniform Guard quietly into the Prince of Lu's residence, without alerting anyone at all.

Ever since the Prince of Lu had entered Jining, everyone around him was from the Embroidered Uniform Guard — even the street vendors were Embroidered Uniform Guard men. It could be said that there were no ordinary commoners in this alley.

Although no one had ordered such an arrangement, Xu Xianchun had done it anyway. For Xu Xianchun, this kind of arrangement merely wasted some manpower and resources.

If something really did happen, he could respond in a timely manner; if nothing happened, the loss was nothing more than some manpower and resources. But if something truly did happen, what he would gain would be far more.

So when Xu Xianchun arrived, he hadn't brought many men at all — because everyone around was already his man, and even the gatekeeper at the door was his man.

Xu Xianchun slipped in without a sound, and with his men quickly made his way to the door of Zhou Yi's room.

The one guiding Xu Xianchun was a minor official of the princely household. On the surface he was a minor official of the household, but in reality he was a spy planted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

This man led Xu Xianchun to Zhou Yi's door, then said, "Sir, ahead is Lord Zhou's residence. There is one matter I don't know whether I should mention."

Xu Xianchun looked at him, frowning, and said, "Where did all this nonsense come from? If you have something to say, say it. If you have something to let out, let it out."

This Embroidered Uniform Guard spy was in his thirties and appeared quite refined. Hearing Xu Xianchun's words, he sighed helplessly and said, "Ever since you sent word asking who managed the household, I felt these two men might have problems. So I took the liberty of quietly keeping watch on them."

Xu Xianchun turned to look at him and said expressionlessly, "So what did you hear them say?"

There was clearly something to be gained here — otherwise the spy wouldn't have brought it up, especially at the risk of acting without authorization. It seemed this matter was no small thing!

"Reporting to you, sir — I heard the two of them discussing a plot to assassinate His Majesty." The spy said hurriedly.

"So it's true!" Hearing this, Xu Xianchun immediately became excited, his face flushed with agitation.

This was an opportunity!

Assassinating His Majesty — what a huge case this was!

If he uncovered a rebellion, he would be made!

"Tell me the details, quickly." Xu Xianchun grabbed him and said hurriedly.

The spy dared not delay, and quickly recounted in detail everything he had heard, finally saying, "Sir, if this matter succeeds, could you transfer me out of the princely household?"

Although he was a spy for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he didn't want to die of old age in the Prince of Lu's household either.

"No problem." Xu Xianchun said with a smile. "If this matter turns out to be true, you've done splendidly this time. Never mind transferring you out of the household — I'll give you a Centurion position when this is over."

"Thank you, sir!" The spy said quickly, a brilliant smile on his face.

"It seems this time it's my turn, Xu Xianchun's, to show what I can do." Xu Xianchun stared at Zhou Yi's house ahead and said coldly, "You all keep watch here. I'm going back immediately to report."

For Xu Xianchun, this matter was too big — he couldn't act on his own authority. After all, with something like rebellion, who knew whether the Prince of Lu was implicated?

If His Majesty wanted to deal with the Prince of Lu, he could certainly serve as that blade; but if His Majesty didn't want to deal with the Prince of Lu, he couldn't add superfluous touches either.

As a subordinate, having ability and being able to get things done was very important — but acting on one's own initiative was the most fatal mistake of all.

Chen Hong soon saw Xu Xianchun again. After glancing at him, he frowned and asked, "Did you bring the men back?"

"There's a new development." Xu Xianchun said quickly.

Then he leaned close to Chen Hong, lowered his voice, and recounted the whole matter, finally saying, "This situation is too serious. I truly dare not make a decision on my own. Please, Eunuch, give me some guidance."

Chen Hong glanced at Xu Xianchun and said irritably, "Is this something I can give guidance on? With a matter this big, is this something I dare to ask about?"

"Wait here. I'll go request instructions from His Majesty immediately." Having said this, Chen Hong hurriedly ran back inside, his steps swift.

After hearing Chen Hong's report, Zhu Youxiao was momentarily stunned.

He truly had not expected something like this to happen. Most crucially — after he had transmigrated here, someone was finally going to attempt to assassinate him. Someone was finally going to plot against him.

Why did he feel a faint hint of excitement?

But Zhu Youxiao's mind was still working on ways to handle this. As for whether to play the long game and wait for bigger fish, that thought had never even crossed his mind.

Those two were nothing but small fry who could never amount to anything. They even wanted to contact the White Lotus sect—the White Lotus would consider themselves lucky not to have chopped them up.

Besides, what was his status? He was the Emperor of the Great Ming—there was no need for such sneaky, underhanded tactics.

So Zhu Youxiao said to Chen Hong, "Have Xu Xianchun arrest them, then interrogate them thoroughly and make this case watertight. After the Prince of Lu enters the palace tomorrow, I want to have a good talk with him."

"Yes, Your Majesty. This servant will go give the orders at once." With that, Chen Hong turned and hurried off.

Zhu Youxiao stood where he was, a smile spreading across his face.

This was what they meant by "when you're drowsy, someone brings you a pillow." As for whether this case had been fabricated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he no longer needed to know. Because he didn't care—those two deserved death for their crimes.

The most critical thing was the nature of the whole affair: a rebellion plot had been exposed in Jining, and it had been brazen enough to attempt assassinating the Emperor. What was this?

This was outright courting death—this was a major case!

Once this case came to light, who among the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner, the Shandong Judicial Commissioner, and the Shandong Governor could escape blame?

For something like this to happen under your governance—incompetent! Useless!

Most importantly, they were linked to the White Lotus sect in rebellion. Whether the connection was real or fabricated, they were connected, period. Send men to arrest the White Lotus sect directly!

Plotting rebellion was simply asking to die.

As for those who had been doing business selling grain together with the Prince of Lu's household, they now had their charges too. Embezzling the court's disaster relief grain—that was plainly colluding with the White Lotus sect in a plot to rebel.

Turning the court's disaster relief grain into military provisions for the White Lotus rebellion was a heinous crime. Not killing them would fail to appease the people's outrage; not killing them would fail to reassure the public. Let them all die!

Anyone who was even remotely connected to this affair would either hand over their family property or become a rebel—beheading and confiscation of property for all.

As for Qufu, the great household that had been trafficking disaster relief grain—that needed to be thoroughly investigated. Were they colluding with the White Lotus sect? Were they trying to overthrow the Great Ming's imperial regime?

They must be punished without mercy.

Zhu Youxiao paced back and forth in the room as he mulled things over.

To make it more convincing, should he stage a little assassination scene?

Otherwise, the whole affair seemed a bit too quiet.