Chapter 429: He Actually Wants to Make a Deal with the Emperor?

Still, Zhu Youxiao decided to see Marquis Wuding, Li Gao, and instructed Wei Chao: "Let him in."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wei Chao acknowledged and turned to go receive him.

Before long, Marquis Wuding Li Gao walked in from outside.

Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Li Gao hastily knelt and performed the ritual greeting, saying with an extremely respectful demeanor: "Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Rise." Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Gao and waved his hand.

After Li Gao stood up from the ground, Zhu Youxiao continued: "Marquis Wuding, what business brings you to the palace?"

"Your Majesty, your subject came to court today because there is a matter I wish to request of Your Majesty." Li Gao looked at Zhu Youxiao, his tone and bearing even more deferential.

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was taken aback and looked Li Gao up and down.

One should know that the meritorious relatives of the Great Ming were actually a very peculiar group. When someone in their family was in power, they naturally acted arrogant and domineering, one could say they overpowered all the officials. Especially with families like the Lis, where a daughter of the house had sat in the position of Grand Dowager Empress—and an empowered Grand Dowager Empress at that—that was even more extraordinary.

However, even so, they still could not escape their fate. Once the good days passed, the family might begin to decline. Relying on the estate accumulated in earlier years, they could still live quite comfortably, and their survival instincts would not have them jumping around causing trouble for themselves—they simply lived peacefully and steadily, far more well-behaved than the meritorious nobles.

Under such circumstances, these meritorious relatives rarely came to court to beg the Emperor for anything. This wasn't a time when their family's daughter called the shots; doing such a thing was likely asking for trouble.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Gao and said directly: "What matter does my beloved minister have?"

"Your subject wishes to exchange for several houses and shops in the First Good Academy district." Li Gao spoke in a calm tone, his attitude extremely earnest.

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was rather startled.

He hadn't expected someone to come here to exchange houses—was this person out of his mind? Who makes deals with the Emperor?

But thinking about it, this bunch had done such things before. Back in the day, his old man had rolled around throwing tantrums in court demanding things, and even Zhang Juzheng had been helpless.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Gao, his expression unchanged as he said: "May I ask what my beloved minister wishes to exchange with?"

"To answer Your Majesty, my family owns a garden in the west of the city—that Qinghua Garden. Your subject wishes to offer it up in exchange for several shops and a few residences. I beg Your Majesty's gracious approval."

At these words, Zhu Youxiao found himself almost unable to believe it.

What level that Qinghua Garden was at, Zhu Youxiao knew very well in his heart.

It was built with great care and effort by Li Gao's father, Li Wei, back in the day—its standard was simply elevated to a certain degree. The decorations inside Qinghua Garden were magnificent and resplendent, and every layout had thought put into it. One could say it was a miniature imperial leisure garden.

Although the houses in the new district were also valuable, and even the shop prices were quite high, compared to Qinghua Garden they simply weren't worth mentioning.

The values on both sides were unequal—how could there be any exchange?

That Qinghua Garden occupied an extremely vast area, and its construction had consumed tremendous effort and time, not to mention enormous amounts of money and grain.

Although Zhu Youxiao had long coveted Qinghua Garden with greedy eyes, he hadn't made any move. Why would Li Gao come rushing to his door in such a panic? Could there be something he didn't know about?

When things go against the norm, there must be something unnatural behind it—Zhu Youxiao understood this principle very well.

Since Li Gao had made such an abnormal move, there was naturally a reason behind it.

Zhu Youxiao asked without changing his expression: "Why is this? I have heard that garden is rather nice."

"To answer Your Majesty, my family has quite many members, and we can no longer fit in the city. So I wished to sell the garden in the west and acquire some property within the city. In this way, it would also satisfy the family's needs."

"But selling the garden takes time, and going back and forth also costs money. Your subject didn't want to go through all that trouble. Since a new city is being built in the west anyway, I am willing to contribute the garden and seek some shops and residences in the city. I beg Your Majesty's permission. If so, your subject would be endlessly grateful."

This reasoning could only fool an idiot, and Zhu Youxiao was naturally no idiot. Li Gao wouldn't dare treat the Emperor as an idiot either.

Since Li Gao dared to come and say this, he must have confidence in his heart that the Emperor would agree. This made things interesting to Zhu Youxiao—where did Li Gao get such great confidence?

Zhu Youxiao looked at Li Gao and said: "I will need to think this matter over. My beloved minister may return for now."

After all, the situation behind this matter was still unclear. Before understanding the truth of the matter, Zhu Youxiao truly could not make a decision. Best to send the man off first and ask around about the situation.

Li Gao hastily bowed and said: "Yes, Your Majesty. Your subject takes his leave."

Having said this, Li Gao bowed and withdrew.

After Li Gao left, Zhu Youxiao glanced at Chen Hong and said: "Have word spread that Marquis Wuding is a man of noble character and lofty integrity—knowing the court wishes to promote culture and education and build the Imperial Academy in the west of the city, he is willing to donate his family garden to the court for the construction of the Academy."

Hearing this, Chen Hong hastily bowed: "Yes, Your Majesty. This servant will go at once."

News from the palace usually passed through several hands before spreading out—from eunuch to palace maid to guard, passed along one link at a time. Sometimes the news spread with great accuracy, sometimes distortions would appear, but outsiders still paid close attention, for every move within the palace could affect the whole realm.

This was not the first time Zhu Youxiao had used this to spread messages outward. As for whether the news was true or false, that depended on his needs.

Clearly, what Zhu Youxiao released this time was a false message. Whatever Li Gao intended to do, first put that tall hat of praise on him.

A man who loved money suddenly acting this way truly made Zhu Youxiao somewhat unable to accept it.

If Li Gao had directly said he was donating it, that would have been a different result. But Li Gao had clearly said he wanted to exchange—there was definitely a problem here.

After Chen Hong left, Zhu Youxiao looked at Wei Chao and directly instructed: "Go to Shuntian Prefecture and bring Chen Qiyu to me."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wei Chao acknowledged and turned to run out.

Whatever the process or outcome of this matter, Chen Qiyu would certainly know it very well. After all, he was the Prefect of Shuntian, and this investigation matter—he should be very clear on it too. Asking Chen Qiyu was definitely the right move.

Upon receiving the Emperor's summons, Chen Qiyu also came to the palace.

Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Chen Qiyu hastily performed the ritual greeting and said respectfully: "Your subject Chen Qiyu pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Enough, rise." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said: "I have summoned you to the palace this time because there are some matters I wish to ask you about. Regarding the investigation in the west of the city, how is the progress?"

For Chen Qiyu, this was not a particularly difficult matter. Whether it was him or Chen Sihai, handling this kind of business was second nature.

The only difficulty in investigating land was whether the people handling it dared to act, and whether there was someone behind them daring to back them up.

Why was Hai Rui able to be invincible back in the day? Wasn't it because he dared to offend anyone? As long as one was fearless, such cases could be investigated just like that.

Back then, Hai Rui was like he had a protective amulet—no one dared to touch him, so naturally he was invincible.

As for Chen Sihai, Chen Qiyu, and the others, Zhu Youxiao also shielded them tightly. Memorials impeaching them were basically not even read, let alone investigated; the court could do nothing about Chen Sihai and the others either. Both Chen men were capable people, so investigating the land naturally posed no problem—progress was smooth.

Chen Qiyu said: "To answer Your Majesty, everything is progressing smoothly. Another half month should see the general survey completed."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "That is excellent. Just now, Marquis Wuding came to court, wishing to exchange his family garden for shops and properties in the new city. Do you know what this matter is about?"

Hearing this, a flash of anger appeared on Chen Qiyu's face, and he then said: "To answer Your Majesty, this Marquis Wuding is indeed insatiably greedy and despicable in character. That garden of his in the west of the city was originally built by forcibly seizing farmland, and there are still victims to this day."

"Beyond that, he also occupied quite a lot of the mountains and land around the garden. Among these, many were directly seized without land deeds. The common people were displaced from their homes, and some were even directly enslaved by him."

"When your subject investigated, I was filled with righteous indignation. Clearly he has realized things are looking bad and is preparing to offload the garden in the west. As long as Your Majesty permits it, the matter in the west of the city naturally becomes nothing at all."

At these words, Zhu Youxiao's expression turned very ugly.

Sure enough, he hadn't guessed wrong — there was indeed something here that he didn't know about. To put it plainly, the western part of the city was getting too hot to handle, and Li Gao didn't intend to keep holding onto it. If someone were to impeach him over it, the consequences might turn severe.

At a time like this, wasn't the simplest solution to just donate the garden? Then accept whatever punishment came — that way he could get through it safely, or at least have his sentence reduced.

But this Li Gao clearly hadn't done that — he was even trying to trade for houses and shops inside the city. What did that show?

It could only show one thing: Li Gao truly loved wealth, and was trying to use the garden as a swap to recover some of his losses. After all, shops and gardens in the city were hot commodities right now — getting his hands on them would still make money. Though they were still a bit inferior to the garden in the city proper, losing a little was nothing compared to losing everything.

At the thought, Zhu Youxiao was angered into a laugh.

This was someone who'd die for money.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Qiyu, his face dark, and said, "When you return, spread this matter abroad — let everyone know what the Marquis of Wuqing has done."

Hearing this, Chen Qiyu naturally understood what he meant, and hurriedly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. Your servant understands. If there is nothing else, your servant will take his leave."

"Go." Zhu Youxiao nodded.

After Chen Qiyu left, Zhu Youxiao let out a sigh and said to Chen Hong beside him, "Use a different approach — just spread what happened today."

If that news got out, the result would be that the Marquis of Wuqing, knowing his sins were grave, was willing to donate the garden. That outcome was not what Zhu Youxiao wanted.

If the facts were told as they were, the result would be that the Marquis of Wuqing was utterly without scruples, insatiably greedy, and stupid to the extreme.

That kind of public opinion suited the Marquis of Wuqing, Li Gao, better — and it also made it more convenient for Zhu Youxiao to make his move afterward.