Chapter 430: Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkey

The matter of Marquis Wuding entering the palace to meet the Emperor spread throughout the city in no time, quickly fermenting among officials at every level.

For a time, public opinion in the capital was in an uproar. No one had expected something like this to happen — the Marquis of Wuding had actually gone running into the imperial palace?

One had to understand that although the capital had been in a stir lately, with everyone discussing the housing matter, those truly involved were also concerned about the land investigation in the western part of the city.

It was just that for the moment no one had come up with any particularly good solution — what they had done was itself illegal and against regulations, putting them thoroughly in the wrong. If His Majesty chose not to pursue past offenses or simply turned a blind eye, then everyone would actually be fine with that.

But now that His Majesty wanted to get serious and investigate thoroughly, then you could only take the beating and accept the punishment. This had always been the way for meritorious nobles and relatives of the imperial family, and everyone knew it in their hearts. Once the days had passed, they could think of other ways — but for now, they could not make His Majesty lose face, could not touch His Majesty's bad side.

In this regard, weren't meritorious nobles and imperial relatives all the same?

This time everyone was also trying to think of solutions, but ever since the Staff Office had been established, meritorious nobles and imperial relatives were no longer of one mind.

Because many families with ambition had already begun striving to seize power — carrying on as before, idling through life waiting to die, was no longer acceptable. Everyone wanted more. Even the shrewd ones had realized that the days ahead would not be so easy to coast through; if they did not take advantage of their current position to grab some power now, they feared there would be no place left for them to survive in the future.

Division naturally appeared, and it showed itself quite clearly in this matter of the land investigation.

Some people were extremely supportive — they had even heard that His Majesty was investigating land, so they first investigated their own households, and upon discovering problems, did not hide or conceal anything, but went directly to the Shuntian Prefecture to report it.

Others felt stifled and deeply uncomfortable — why should the fine things their families owned be handed over?

For a time, both sides argued endlessly.

But no one had expected the Marquis of Wuding to pull off such a stunt. This was not a good thing, nor did it point a way forward for anyone — this was courting death.

You had already committed an offense and done wrong — wouldn't it have been better to obediently confess your crime and accept the punishment?

Now you go before His Majesty to play tricks, saying you want to trade your own garden for the court's houses, and claiming you are utterly loyal to the Ming's culture and education — you're treating His Majesty like a fool to be duped.

If the matter had failed, that would have been the end of it; but if His Majesty had agreed at the time, wouldn't you have thought about how His Majesty would retaliate against you once he learned the truth?

After the news spread, public opinion across the entire capital exploded instantly.

Civil officials began submitting routine memorials impeaching the Marquis of Wuding, and these memorials were sent into the palace like falling snowflakes.

One had to understand that on the matter of the land investigation, the civil officials were extremely supportive.

Building a new Confucian temple, establishing a new Duke Yansheng, founding the new Imperial Academy, and using the relocated land to build houses for everyone — all of this was good news to them, and the civil officials strongly supported this policy in their hearts.

In recent days, many civil officials had submitted memorials thanking His Majesty for his grace, and Zhu Youxiao's reputation had improved considerably. Under such circumstances, the Marquis of Wuding actually wanted to stir up trouble — perfect, use him as a target.

For a time, the Marquis of Wuding could be said to be condemned by all, his reputation instantly ruined throughout the streets. Some even exposed what the Marquis of Wuding's family had done in years past, looking very much like they were digging up old accounts.

The original Marquis of Wuding, Li Wei, had come from a carpenter's background. His family had never seen the world and lived in extreme poverty. To survive, Li Wei sent his daughter to the Prince of Yu's residence to work as a maidservant.

Because of the Jiajing Emperor's rumor of "two dragons not meeting," the princes' days were not easy. Not to mention taking additional consorts — even their allowances were meager. The Jiajing Emperor was busy pursuing immortality; who had the mind to care about such things? The Prince of Yu happened to catch sight of Li Wei's daughter, found her rather attractive, and favored her. Li Wei's daughter was fortunate in her fate — she bore a son, who was the later Wanli Emperor.

The Marquis of Wuding, Li Wei, rose through his daughter's status, and since Wanli had ascended the throne at a young age with Empress Dowager Li in charge of the household, the Marquis of Wuding became even more insufferably arrogant.

Empress Dowager Li also came from a humble background — her father was a carpenter — and their family did many things that the mainstream could not tolerate. In their pursuit of money, they stopped at nothing. Having been poor and frightened in the past, now that they had the opportunity, why not grab more? Li Wei had done far too many things — even Zhang Juzheng could not control him.

It was just that so many years had passed that people could not very well dig up old accounts. But this time the Marquis of Wuding's family had jumped out on their own, and if this old account were not dug up, it would be hard to get past this.

Deep within the imperial palace.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the memorial in his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face.

After pondering briefly for a moment, an idea formed in Zhu Youxiao's mind.

He said, "Chen Hong, have the Directorate of Ceremonial draft an imperial edict and deliver it to the Marquis of Wuding, Li Gao. Tell him that the houses in the new city are built for officials, and even if some houses are to be sold, it is to raise funds to build houses for officials. So the houses in the new city truly cannot be traded to him. However, since he lives in hardship, I cannot bear it in my heart — I will take some things from the inner treasury and bestow them upon him, so that he may use them to buy a house and property in the capital and live a good life."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao set down the brush in his hand, a baffling expression appearing on his face.

Upon hearing this, Chen Hong quickly said, "Your Highness can rest assured — this servant will go handle it at once."

After Chen Hong had left, Zhu Youxiao let out a cold laugh.

This was not a good thing at all. The rewards Zhu Youxiao gave were merely to display the Emperor's magnanimity, to display the Emperor's kind heart.

After all, they were all one family, all relatives — as Emperor, how could he watch his own relatives be unable to get by?

Trading houses with you would break the court's rules, which was not something an Emperor should do, so he could not trade with you.

But neither could he watch you struggle with nothing to eat, so he bestowed upon you a little of the Emperor's private funds, to let you live a good life.

Such an approach took care of both legal principle and human sentiment — one could say it killed many birds with one stone. It looked like a fine tale of virtue, but behind it, things were not so simple.

If someone impeached the Marquis of Wuding, Li Gao, saying how wealthy and rich his family was, then what would the Marquis of Wuding, Li Gao, be?

That would be the crime of deceiving the sovereign — you were deceiving the Emperor, what were you plotting?

And in Zhu Youxiao's view, these civil officials of the Great Ming had no problem at all seizing on such loopholes and handles, and they would certainly inflate the charges to the maximum.

Whoever shouted the loudest held the most authority, and they would definitely not let this opportunity pass.

All he had to do was wait and watch the show, see what they could actually stir up.

Sure enough, just as Zhu Youxiao had predicted, Chen Hong went to proclaim the imperial edict, and the edict was delivered to the Marquis of Wuding's residence.

For a time, public opinion was in an uproar.

On one side, people were saying the Emperor was merciful and a good emperor; on the other side, they were cursing the Marquis of Wuding — how much land does your family own? How many businesses does your family have? How much money does your family have? And you still dare to go before His Majesty and plead poverty?

If it were ordinary times, that would be one thing, but to go pleading poverty at a time like this and have His Majesty bestow rewards upon you?

That money was for building houses for us! You, Marquis of Wuding, have gone too far — absolutely cannot be forgiven!

His Majesty is so benevolent, and you still deceive His Majesty?!

Thus, memorials impeaching the Marquis of Wuding flew into the court one after another. This time, public opinion all tilted toward Zhu Youxiao, all targeting the Marquis of Wuding's crime of deceiving the sovereign — a crime beyond pardon.

Of course, even those doing the impeaching did not take this charge seriously themselves. The reason was simple — in ordinary times when everyone impeached, they shouted the same things, and shouted even more fiercely; phrases like "so-and-so harbors treacherous intentions" were often bandied about. It was just talk, and no one took it seriously. This time, shouting it was merely a way to express loyalty.

But something no one had expected happened — after the memorials were sent into the palace, His Majesty flew into a rage, becoming furious in an instant.

According to rumor, His Majesty lamented that all these years of his heartfelt sincerity had ultimately been misplaced.

In an instant, the matter was pushed to the very crest of the storm.

His Majesty was so angered he fell ill, and directly hid himself inside the palace, refusing to come out. At the same time, he ordered the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Court of Judicial Review to jointly investigate the case, to see whether the Marquis of Wuding, Li Gao, had indeed deceived the sovereign.

In truth, it was simply that the weather was too cold and Zhu Youxiao did not want to rise early. Taking advantage of this excuse, he hid in the inner palace every day, keeping company with Empress Zhang and his son.

Sometimes, when he grew weary of the baby's crying, he would go find Consort Yuan and Consort Tian — warm jade in his arms, he forgot all about returning.

The Empress had already given birth to a plump white son, but these two women's bellies had shown no reaction yet — that was not quite right. Once Zhu Youxiao put in some effort and got them both pregnant, whichever one it was, having a daughter first would make a matching pair.

As for the clamor outside, Zhu Youxiao planned to let the bullets fly for a while, and once the matter had escalated to a certain point, he would come out and clean up the mess.

This time, there was absolutely no way he would let Marquis Wuqing off easily—he was the perfect chicken to slaughter as a warning to the monkeys.

Since he'd come knocking on his own, it was the perfect chance to deal with him. Compared to hereditary nobles, consort kin were far easier to squeeze. They hadn't built their standing through military merit, had no connections in the capital—they owed everything to a daughter becoming Empress. By the time it passed down this far, who even knew how many degrees of separation they were from the throne?

Take the Li family, for instance. They were the family of the Longqing Emperor's Empress. After that came Wanli, then Taichang, and now by Zhu Youxiao's reign it was already the fourth generation—nearly past the five-degree mourning limit.

A gentleman's legacy is cut off after five generations. Though the Great Ming didn't put much stock in that saying, that didn't mean Zhu Youxiao couldn't use it as justification.

Zhu Youxiao felt no guilt whatsoever. These consort kin spent their days eating, drinking, and amusing themselves, contributing nothing to state or people. No heartache in cleaning house.

Under such circumstances, the Marquis Wuqing estate naturally found itself in a storm's approach, its reputation plummeting.

The Emperor distrusted them, and the civil officials piled on with kicks.

Everyone knew the Marquis Wuqing estate was finished this time—they'd lifted a rock only to drop it on their own feet.

At the same time, some were worried: was His Majesty's health all right?

After all, he was still so young.